AUSTIN, Texas — Airbnb gave an Austin homeowner a headache last month after he discovered his house was listed without his knowledge and he says getting it taken down was a tall order.
- Homeowner is renting to long-term tenant
- Tenant is in now in jail for unrelated issue
- It appears that tenant’s girlfriend listed home on Airbnb
Earlier this year, homeowner Bob Griswold found a tenant for his house on the east side.
“And then he got arrested and now he’s in jail until March,” Griswold said.
Last month, something unusual popped up online: Bob’s house was on Airbnb. We obtained a copy of the lease Griswold’s tenant signed. It specifically bans subletting or short-term renting without written consent of the homeowner.
“Which pisses me off. That was my house. She’s not even a tenant. This woman who posted it I think was the girlfriend. She’s not on the lease and doesn’t live there,” Griswold said.
Griswold said he reached out to Airbnb for help.
“They refused to do anything. They said nope we cannot do anything. We cannot remove the listing without talking to the primary host,” Griswold said.
In a message exchange with customer service reps, Griswold said he was told to reach out the tenant’s girlfriend personally.
“I don’t know who this person is. I have no way to contact this woman,” Griswold said.
Griswold called police, but APD’s hands were tied. That's because the woman in question was a so-called “guest of the tenant” and as a result, she didn’t meet the threshold of criminal trespass.
“If she’s an invited guest by the tenant then I still have to legally allow her access to the property,” Griswold said.
We reached out to Airbnb and during one phone call, a rep said they took the complaint and worked with the homeowner to take down the listing. For Griswold, though, it was too little too late.
“I am presenting evidence that this is my property. The tenant is in jail. This person who is the “primary host” is not on the lease, has no relationship to me at all, has no interest in the property and as far as I’m concerned this is stolen property and they just absolutely refuse to do anything about it,” Griswold said.
As the dust begins to settle, Griswold says he’s moving on with the formal eviction process. Until a judge formally evicts the current tenant, even though he's in jail, Griswold will have to keep his property accessible to him and his guests.
We got in touch with the woman involved in this story. When we asked her about the listing under what appeared to be her profile, she denied any involvement.
Airbnb says it took the listing is down, but Griswold insists it was only taken down after intense pressure from his end.
We're still waiting to hear more from Airbnb reps about the timeline of their response. In another phone call with them, we were told anyone who wants to list a property on their site has to agree to a terms of service.
Those terms say that by putting up a house for listing, hosts agree they're doing so under all applicable laws and regulations.
We'll let you know if we hear more from the company.
The homeowner in this story is related to one of our staff members at Spectrum News.