(Photo Illustration by The Real Deal with Getty)
The eviction wasn’t enough to stop a former tenant in Charlotte, North Carolina, from running an illegal Airbnb.
It took the condo’s new owner, Natalie Siburt, bumping into a potential guest dropping off her luggage outside her house, to start a battle with Airbnb to have the listing removed, the Charlotte Observer reported.
After documenting his run-in on ICT Tac Siburt turned to the condo’s board of directors, who informed the landlady for the first time of the issues between the property’s previous owner and his tenant.
Former landlord Lori Terunuma evicted the tenant earlier this year after renting the property to her for three years. Terunuma said the tenant’s background check did not alert the landlord to a criminal record and the landlords association had several minor issues with her over the years. Terunuma said she didn’t know the tenant was renting the property on Airbnb before the eviction.
Terunuma told the outlet that after serving the eviction notice, she went to check out the property and found locks on the cupboard doors and a note on the refrigerator inviting customers to help themselves.
Six months ago, Terunuma began contacting Airbnb to remove the listing. Siburt also contacted the company and said she responded by deflecting responsibility. “‘They then said they were just a platform and had nothing to do with it and that I should contact the host directly,'” Siburt told the Observer.
Protected by Section 230 of the Federal Communications Act and a general ability to avoid oversightsdeflecting blame is the company’s MO when it comes to issues like Siburt’s.
In her Tiktok, Siburt said she did a “deep dive” on Reddit and discovered that many new owners whose properties were listed on Airbnb by previous occupants had experiences like hers.
Siburt says she was able to get in touch with the former tenant, who claimed she couldn’t remove the listing because she no longer had access to her Airbnb account.
After the observer contacted Airbnb for comment, he reported that the listing had been removed.
—Cailley LaPara
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