Addressing Airbnb’s IPO business: ahead of Airbnb’s anticipated initial public offering later this fall, Fairbnb asks to what degree are Airbnb’s revenues in Canada driven by listings that violate local laws, including public health measures?

This is a highly informative document for anyone interested to learn about the terms and conditions Airbnb has agreed to in the City of San Francisco. It shows what the company is willing and able to do if there is political will to hold them accountable. Once implemented, Airbnb will have to remove all non-licensed […]

The report reveals that STR regulations – particularly principal residence restrictions implemented by municipalities before the introduction of the Short-term Rental Accommodations Act of Bill 35 – have decreased rents by 5.7%, saving B.C. renters more than $600 million in 2023 alone.

Key Findings:

STR regulations are proving effective: Current STR regulations across Ontario already save tenant households more than $1 billion annually.
Principal residence restrictions work: Municipalities with principal residence restrictions experienced rent increases that were 3.3% lower, saving tenants an average of $50 per month.
Province-wide potential savings: Expanding principal residence requirements across Ontario could save renters an additional $572 million annually.

Globe and Mail,  August 4, 2024 Statistics Canada’s report last week, “Short-term Rentals in the Canadian Housing Market,” reveals that by 2023, 107,266 housing units had been converted to commercial short-term rental (STR), rendering them unavailable for long-term occupancy. Comparing this number to Canada’s current total housing stock of 15,495,361 units, Statscan suggests that a seemingly […]

London Free Press, August 29, 2024 The couple couldn’t understand why their Airbnb host was so adamant he get back the “very important” cellphone charging cube they had mistakenly taken from a London home. After a series of calls and text messages over four days that began 20 minutes after they checked out and became ever […]

Planetizen, August 26, 2024 A San Francisco Superior Court judge has overruled Airbnb’s request to dismiss a case brought against it by the parents of a teen who died in August 2021 after being shot at a party held in a Sunnyvale, California, home rented on Airbnb. According to an article from ACCESSWIRE, the case […]

The number of short-term rentals in Canada has grown sharply since 2017, with units that could be considered usable for long-term housing growing even faster, a new Statistics Canada report said on Tuesday.

According to the report, the total number of short-term rental units in Canada grew by 60 per cent between 2017 and 2023. The number of units considered ‘potential long-term dwellings’ (PLTDs) – or units that could be long-term housing – rose by 80 per cent.

Nearly half of the 22,405 short-term rental listings reviewed by the B.C. Ministry of Housing were found to be operating illegally, according to a preliminary analysis of newly released data from short-term rental platforms that the province says it will use to step up enforcement of new restrictions.

Prosecutors said Bicher operated at least 18 Manhattan apartments as “mini-hotels” while using the pandemic as an excuse not to pay landlords more than $1 million in rent from 2019 to April 2022. They said he also got government-guaranteed loans through a program meant to provide relief to small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

An Airbnb representative testifying at a court-ordered deposition early last year offered a rare glimpse of the company’s hidden camera problem: Airbnb has generated tens of thousands of customer support tickets related to surveillance devices in the last decade.

“More supply of housing is needed, and the measures we’re presenting today are to provide more supply so that the working middle class does not have to leave the city because they can’t afford housing,” Collboni said. “This measure will not change the situation from one day to the next. These problems take time. But with this measure we are marking a turning point.”