Katy family kicked out of Airbnb, found host sublet unit against rules

KATY – A family in Katy said their planned stay at an Airbnb almost turned into them living on the streets after their host was caught breaking the rules by letting them stay in the unit.

Now the family is warning other tenants to be aware.

Annie Wisdom and her husband have their hands full with three children, including an 18-month-old boy.

The couple were in the process of building their dream home and thought they had found the perfect solution with the gap of a month before they could move into their new home.

“I leaned on [Airbnb] to check all the dots and cross out all the t’s,” Wisdom said. “We’re building a house, so we only had about a month left before our closing date. My husband and I found the perfect Airbnb.”

It was a room in a luxury apartment complex in Katy.

“It was right down the street from where we were building, it was near daycare, and there was room for three kids,” Wisdom said.

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However, after moving in on the first day, she had already been in trouble.

“I asked the [staff], ‘Hey where are your parcels? I’m trying to find mine. And she said, ‘Oh, okay. Are you a resident?’ And I was like, ‘No, I’m just staying at the Airbnb. I just had a package delivered. And she just looked really worried and started asking me a bunch of questions,” Wisdom said.

Wisdom said her heart sank when she started to realize what was going on.

“I knew at that moment, [the host] is not supposed to sublet,” Wisdom said. “I didn’t want to give him too much information because we had nowhere to go.”

However, a day later, she had a rude awakening.

“The next day the host comes to the door to tell us we have to go out,” Wisdom said.

She said she had 30 minutes to pack all her things. The family was stressed.

“We sat in our car for a few hours trying to figure out what to do,” Wisdom said.

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Luckily they said a local hotel was open and available. However, Wisdom expressed concern that the situation could arise.

“For all of these types of services, they need to ask for a copy of the person’s lease or proof of ownership. It shouldn’t be up to the consumer to determine if I’m allowed to stay here or not,” Wisdom said.

KPRC contacted Airbnb and they released the following statement:

“Airbnb hosts certify that they will comply with local laws and regulations when they agree to our Terms of Service. The Wisdoms did the right thing by immediately calling our 24/7 Community Support Team 7, and as a result, they were promptly refunded in full.The listing was taken down in early February.

Wisdom said she hopes there will be accountability and that more tenants and renters will know so what happened to her doesn’t happen to them.