Councils slam Airbnb and Booking.com for allowing illegal sublets

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Several local governments have criticised housing platforms Airbnb and Booking.com for failing to crack down on illegal social housing sub-leases. Parents I will report.

With a massive shortage of local authority and housing association housing, social housing tenants are moving out of their homes and sub-letting.

In one case, a tenant had advertised a housing association property for £4,000 a week despite never living in it, according to campaign group Rental Scam Forum.

Katrina Robinson, chair of the association and lawyer for housing associations, said: “We recently reported an illegal subletting to Airbnb and explained that it is a criminal offence, but they refused to remove the listing and told us to speak to the host.”

“Airbnb puts profits before conscience.”

In another example, the borough of Kensington and Chelsea was forced to take legal action against Airbnb after the company refused to remove illegal listings, spending around £20,000 in the process.

The council said Airbnb had not shared the data with it, even though under the Privacy Act personal data can be provided to law enforcement. Islington Council expressed frustration at Airbnb’s apparent failure to comply with the act.

A similar situation occurred with Booking.com, which failed to remove the listing for an illegal sub-let in London’s Notting Hill, where tenants were coming and going at all hours of the day and night.

Booking.com has suspended the listing until the investigation is complete. Parents: “It appears that the complaint from Notting Hill Genesis was not escalated through our appropriate internal channels, which may have caused delays.”

Airbnb added that “issues are rare and we take appropriate action if concerns are raised.”