On 24 May 2018, State Labor MP Stephen Kamper spoke in Parliament. His constituents wanted to know why Government, which was happy to wipe out the taxi industry overnight through the introduction of Uber, had been entirely unwilling to make a decision on so-called ‘home sharing’. Kamper provided copy to the Sydney Morning Herald - published 05/06/18. Kamper was firmly on the side of the disrupter, Airbnb. Was the SMH under pressure from a high-powered Airbnb delegation to

While the City of Sydney’s senior Legal staff are not permitted to discuss zoning violations with ratepayers, and Councillors fail to acknowledge correspondence seeking aid, City of Sydney Council, reportedly part of Airbnb’s “most penetrated market in the world”, is promoting Master Classes for would be short-term rental millionaires. Residential landlords looking to engage in the “Illegal Use of Premises” by emptying homes of tenants and running unlawful hotels can join Mil

According to yesterday’s SMH, criminals are increasingly using Airbnb rentals to camouflage drug dealing. Three recent NSW Crime Commission investigations involved courier companies delivering drugs to Sydney Airbnb rentals. Meanwhile in the US, Senators are calling for answers after allegations of nationwide fraud on the platform. Here is the US Senator’s letter. If the US Congress can ask Airbnb to share data on their illegal listings, Members of our Parliaments must ins

An article in yesterday’s Daily Telegraph misquoted Deputy Premier John Barilaro’s short-term rental, Dungowan Estate, at $1,850/night. A minimum two-night-stay in January will in fact set one back $4,899 - or $2,450/night. Happy tidings! The Telegraph’s reporters also wrote of a major Media campaign being waged by Airbnb against Premier Berejiklian and her Deputy in an attempt to stave off enforcement action that would see short-term rental operators comply with Federal a

After another one (Atlanta – no deaths this time), nay two (Dallas) Airbnb shootings – bringing the total since May in the US/Canada to 41 shootings causing death or serious injury - Airbnb’s Australian representatives have fallen silent. The Twitter accounts of Brent Thomas, Julian Crowley, and Derek Nolan show no activity since the 31 October shooting in California in which five clients were killed. Airbnb newcomer, Derek Nolan has ‘protected’ his Twitter account in the l

After more shootings, Airbnb’s US35 billion dollar man Brian Chesky has taken to twitter, promising to verify the accuracy of its 7,000,000 listings and the identity of every landlord. And if client expectations fall short on arrival, they will be moved into something “just as nice…or they will get 100% of their money back” (see photo). And when your neighbours’ Airbnb party turns into a deadly gunfight, duck for cover and call Airbnb’s newly formed ‘rapid response team’, wh

Airbnb will remove the word "party" from the descriptions of its listings. Party Houses Banned after five die in shooting. Voila, problem solved! But wait, another shooting, this time in Edmonton, Canada. Airbnb shootings in the US since May 2019: 1. Pittsburgh, PA on June 12, 2019 – Two dead, one injured 2. Charlotte, NC on June 12, 2019 – One dead, three injured 3. Sacramento, CA on July 31, 2019 – One injured 4. West Covina, CA on July 31, 2019 – One dead, three injure

The NSW Fair Trading Complaint Register has ‘request for refunds’ as the main source of dissatisfaction for those using the Airbnb platform. This adds weight to reports such as that which appeared two days ago in a US newspaper - I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb – and the claim of how easy it is to scam users of the platform. The author of the report also writes how Airbnb’s Terms and Conditions favour a would-be scammer and place the onus on clients “wh