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 — Elhania v. Airbnb, Inc. — will be the first in the nation to potentially hold Airbnb legally responsible for a victim’s death from a shooting at an Airbnb party, which happen more often than one might assume. In the last 30 days, injuries and deaths from “shootouts” at Airbnb parties were reported in Utah, Alabama, Texas, and Georgia.

Until now, Airbnb has been able to dismiss the case by arguing it can’t be held liable because injuries at parties could not be foreseen and that they’re merely a platform connecting renters with property owners. So what’s making the case stick this time? The fact that Airbnb violated the local city ordinance regulating short-term rentals, which were specifically designed to protect the type of harm the 18-year-old Elias Elhania suffered. Those violations include the fact that the rental was an illegal short-term rental, the owner was not on site throughout the stay, and Airbnb rented the unit to an unaccompanied minor.

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NEW YORK (AP) — A Florida man who boasted that he was the “Wolf of Airbnb” was sentenced Monday to over four years in prison for defrauding New York City landlords and a federal pandemic-relief government program.

Konrad Bicher, 32, of Hialeah, Florida, was sentenced in Manhattan federal court by Judge Lorna G. Schofield.

The prison term of four years and three months came after Bicher pleaded guilty a year ago to a wire fraud charge. He was also ordered to forfeit $1.7 million and pay $2.2 million in restitution. He declined to speak at the sentencing.

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.

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It was another lawsuit brought by another victim whose fun-filled vacation turned into a voyeuristic nightmare: A woman was secretly recorded undressing at a rental property, her images stored on the computer of an alleged sexual predator accused of spying on unsuspecting renters for years.

Airbnb, one of the world’s largest short-term rental companies, had seen this sort of scenario before. Typically, the company seeks to settle hidden camera cases quickly and confidentially.

But this one played out differently.

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.

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Long’s lengthy battle with his former landlord — a self-described community advocate who has positioned himself as an anti-homelessness leader — has been an uneven fight, one similar to that faced by many Ontario tenants. A series of hurdles can make it nearly impossible for tenants to get anything resembling justice, and even three years after Long’s victory he’s still waiting for the money he’s owed.

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Altogether, seven people died that night, including Wu, Khan, Zafar, Belkahla, Lacroix and Sears. Six of them were staying in illegal Airbnb units. It took 11 days for searchers to recover their remains. The body of 76-year-old Camille Maheux, a renowned photographer and another long-term tenant, was the first to be identified. Nine days later, search dogs located Sears’ body in the basement—he likely slid off his bed and fell through the collapsing structure.

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An Airbnb owner west of Edmonton estimates she’s out more than $200,000 after her property was ransacked during a booking.

The morning of Jan. 21, Jocelyn St. Onge got a strange text from a neighbour. He told her the hood of her truck at her property outside the lake town Wabamun was raised.

That Sunday, two guests who had been renting her acreage for one week were scheduled to check out.

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