With an entire week living in my apartment, Dj and friends had more than enough time to search through literally everything inside, to rifle through every document, every photo, every drawer, every storage container and every piece of clothing I own, essentially turning my world inside out, and leaving a disgusting mess behind.They smashed a hole through a locked closet door, and found the passport, cash, credit card and grandmother’s jewelry I had hidden inside. They took my camera, my iPod, an old laptop, and my external backup drive filled with photos, journals… my entire life. They found my birth certificate and social security card, which I believe they photocopied – using the printer/copier I kindly left out for my guests’ use. They rifled through all my drawers, wore my shoes and clothes, and left my clothing crumpled up in a pile of wet, mildewing towels on the closet floor. They found my coupons for Bed Bath & Beyond and used the discount, along with my Mastercard, to shop online.  Despite the heat wave, they used my fireplace and multiple Duraflame logs to reduce mounds of stuff (my stuff??) to ash — including, I believe, the missing set of guest sheets I left carefully folded for their comfort.
Sounds pretty darn nightmarish to me. I’ve known people who have done successful house-swaps with strangers from Paris or who have made new friends via couchsurfing.org. I’ve also rented plenty of places myself using VRBO.com or HomeAway.com. So I don’t think there’s anything unique, unusual or frightening about airbnb’s business of matching up people with space to rent and people who want to rent space.
What is frightening, however, is the fact that woman whose place was trashed said she didn’t know if she had rented to a male or a female or what the person’s real name is. This is where I see the difference between airbnb and VRBO or HomeAway. When I’ve rented through those sites, I’ve talked to the property owners directly. On airbnb, apparently there is no contact between owner and renter until the renter has paid for the visit. I wouldn’t want to be on either side of that deal.
Turns out that in San Francisco, renting your abode to a vacationer might be illegal, since local rent control laws and planning department rules say that any space rented for less than 30 days is a hotel, subject to restrictions, permits, fees and taxes.
So, be careful of both the random renter who might trash your house, and also the random neighbor who might cause you all sorts of grief by reporting you for renting our your place illegally.
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