This fall, Andy Manis bought a larger home with his partner and decided to rent out his old house near Hoyt Park. He thought he had found the perfect tenant.
“This person checked out,” Manis, a professional photographer, tells Isthmus. “She had a good job. Good credit.”
So Manis was shocked when he saw his westside property listed on Airbnb as “a stunning bungalow in the heart of Madison” going for $162 a night. That was his stunning bungalow!
“Hell yeah I felt duped. Never even dreamed this would happen,” Manis says. His neighbors had found the listing on Airbnb, having grown suspicious after seeing numerous people come and go from the house. “It soon became clear [the tenant] never planned on living there at all. This was strictly a way for her to make money and plenty of it.”
After investigating, Manis calculated his tenant was making thousands of dollars a month off of his house. It was also mostly booked up through the end of year. Guests seem to enjoy their stay — the house had a perfect five-star rating.
His tenant’s scheme was a huge liability for Manis since his insurance didn’t cover the property for this use. “If something happened — the house burns down or someone slips and hurts themselves — they are going to come after me,” Manis says. “Not the renter.“
Even more galling, Manis’ renter used uncredited pictures of the home taken by him on the Airbnb posting — an affront to any professional photographer.
Lola Abu
Andy Manis was stunned to find his westside home being rented out by a tenant on Airbnb.
City attorney John Strange says Manis isn’t alone.
“During some of the enforcement actions we’ve taken the last few months, there were a number of landlords who had no idea that their tenants were renting out their properties on Airbnb,” Strange says. “That arrangement is illegal under our zoning codes.”
Strange would not speculate whether such tenants would be subject to criminal charges.
Websites like Airbnb have made it possible for people to rent out extra rooms, apartments or entire homes through the internet. Madison ordinances require people to meet public health ordinances and collect room taxes — but enforcing those regulations has been an ongoing challenge for the city.
“One of the difficulties with this particular niche of the market is you don’t know exactly where the property is or who owns the property,” Strange says. “You can’t get the exact address of an Airbnb posting until you actually book a room. So the city had been relying on individuals to come forward and register voluntarily.”
Compliance with the law has been dismal. Strange says out of an estimated 500 listings in Madison, only 20 properties were registered in the fall of 2017 with the city’s treasurer and public health department.
But Airbnb scofflaws be warned: The jig is up.
Last March, the city entered into an agreement with Airbnb that made collecting the 9 percent room tax a lot easier. The San Francisco-based company collects the city tax at each booking and makes one payment for all participating properties each fiscal quarter. But the company still withholds the location and name of the owner of each property.
In May, the tax money started flowing in to the city but officials still had no idea how many properties were violating zoning and public health ordinances. A typical Airbnb property must apply with Public Health Madison and Dane County, schedule a $350 inspection and pay a $149 annual fee. Tenants are allowed to be Airbnb hosts but it must be their primary residence and they must have permission from the landlord.
So the city also contracted with Host Compliance, another San Francisco-based tech company, to help police Airbnb. For $12,600 a year, Host Compliance generates a list — updated monthly — of potential Airbnb properties. The city wrote property owners it found were not complying with the law.
Strange says the city “still has a long way to go” but the first round of letters seem to be working. The city’s treasurer’s office says 32 short-term rental operations are now registered.
“I’m not going to speculate on why folks weren’t coming forward voluntarily, whether it was ignorance or just bliss. But the numbers are going up,” says Strange, who adds that the total number of Airbnb listings also appears to be going down. “That seems to be from landlords just finding out their tenants are renting out properties on Airbnb and telling them to stop.”
Ben Breit, Airbnb Midwest representative, says 27,330 guests booked rooms in Madison through its site in 2017, generating $3.6 million for hosts. Breit is “not aware” of any incidents of renters posting rooms on Airbnb without the owners’ consent.
“We absolutely welcome regulation. We think it's important. Having some simple regulations and guide rails makes all the sense in the world,” Breit says. “We’re very encouraging of our hosts to respect those regulations and comply with them.”
After Manis had discovered his tenant’s deception, but had not yet evicted her, he happened to drive by and see something odd through the window: professional lighting equipment, a video monitor and someone applying makeup.
“About the same time, I’m talking to a friend who says there is a problem out in Los Angeles with pornographers renting out Airbnbs to produce porn. It's cheaper than renting a studio,” Manis says. “I have no idea what was actually happening but I can only guess.”
After serving his tenant with an eviction notice, Manis was able to find new renters. They are actually living in the house.
“Talking with friends who are landlords I knew I would and could run into difficulties,” Manis says. “The possibility of a tenant using the property as an Airbnb cash cow just wasn’t one of them.”
