It's a landlord problem if it happens in one place. If it's happening all over the place and is facilitated by a single entity or a small number of entities, it certainly is a problem that will end up getting solved by legislation.

If AirBnB were serious about legal compliance, there are plenty of tools they could make. Any developer here could suggest several, I'm sure. But they're intentionally sailing very close to the wind. They've done well by it so far, but I could imagine this strategy biting them in the ass if they push it too far. A couple of spectacular failures yielding some dramatically written articles would be enough to generate a lot of public outrage.

> If AirBnB were serious about legal compliance, there are plenty of tools they could make

If AirBnB were serious about legal compliance, 100 copy cat sites will sprout trying to take a piece of its pie. You can't stop it. It's like Napster.

I always wondered why, but https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7924005 below gives a good reason why (summary: tenants who rent out via AirBnB can afford bigger rent increases).

It's a combination landlord (lease) and legal problem. In NYC short term leases are explicitly not allowed. Also note, as others have below, that it is very difficult to evict someone in New York.

Glad because just 4 apts. in the building ruined it for the rest of us. I don't care about your travel plans, I care about my quality of life.

Nothing ham-fisted about it and I definitely wouldn't call the mediam rent increases in BK a minor problem - http://gothamist.com/2014/04/04/brooklyn_rents_cant_stop_won...

Maybe people don't care if you can't afford the price of something. It's not everyone else's responsibility to ensure your entitlement to travel on your limited budget. Stay home and make something of it instead of vomiting in everyone else's hallways. We pay the rents and mortgages for these places and AirBnb customers come and crap on it.

And why should it have to be incumbent upon everyone else to enforce rules? What the f$*&? The more I hear of you the more I agree that regulations can't come fast or hard enough.

There are people who have actually lived and invest in these places. Now, there's a whole "disruptive" community thinking because they have a phone with an app, they should be able to help transfer the value of someone else's life and homes into the pockets of AirBnb's founders? Let me catch your tears in this jar so I can savor them.

You have no options without AirBnB? What about:

http://www.priceline.com/hotels/

http://www.expedia.com/Hotels

http://www.travelocity.com/Hotels

http://www.hipmunk.com/hotels-search

http://www.kayak.com/hotels

http://www.trivago.com/?

http://www.orbitz.com/hotels/

http://www.bookingbuddy.com/hotel.php

http://bookit.com/hotels/?tripType=hotel

?

Not all of us can afford hotels. AirBnB generally has options several times cheaper, well within the range of e.g. students.

If you cant afford a hotel how are you paying for the rest of the trip. Im a graduate student and I can afford to travel and pay for a decent hotel. If you can't you shouldn't be traveling and you shouldn't expect others to put up with poor situations because you want a cheap place to stay.

Here is a brilliant idea. How about not traveling if you can't afford it.

How do you go about getting a landlord to enforce a lease agreement? As long as the landlord is getting paid on time and the place isn't destroyed, he probably doesn't care. This seems like a textbook example of an externality that's only solvable by regulation, or by more strictly enforcing any city laws that require landlords to forbid short term sublets.

>How do you go about getting a landlord to enforce a lease agreement?

Uh, ask them? If they refuse, just threatening them with a court case will probably do the job. They are legally obligated to uphold their end of your lease agreement.

>This seems like a textbook example of an externality that's only solvable by regulation

Again, why? It's covered under existing laws. If that doesn't do it, why do you think more laws will?

> Uh, ask them? If they refuse, just threatening them with a court case will probably do the job. They are legally obligated to uphold their end of your lease agreement.

That is not correct.

   Let L = the landlord,
       R = the tenant who is renting out his apartment,
       T = the tenant who is being annoyed by the
           problems R's sub-renters are causing

You are proposing that T sue L for not enforcing a term in R's lease against R. R does not wish to have this term enforced.

The lease agreement being violated (at least as far as the term that prohibits sub-renting the apartment goes) is the one between L and R, not the one between L and T. T would not have standing to sue since T is not a party to the contract between L and R.

In NYC, at least, it's also a legal problem. Short-term rentals (even of property that you own) are illegal under city law. The law would consider the hosts to be:

- Running illegal hotels in buildings that are not zoned for commercial use.

- Running a business without a valid business permit.

- Failing to pay the hotel tax and other business taxes.

- Violating fire regulations that govern hotels and other commercial property.