The NYT writes today about the deal between Airbnb and New York Authorities in which the company that allows anyone to offer up a couch, a room or a whole living space, will hand over the addresses—”stripped of names”—of the hosts who rent through Airbnb.
The attorney general will have a year to use the data to identify bad actors — hosts who are renting out large blocks of rooms in violation of local laws. If he sees suspicious activity, Airbnb is required to identify the hosts.
In the last paragraph of the story, Eric T. Schneiderman, the New York State attorney general, offers a hint of what might happen here.
San Francisco, among other cities, is still struggling to figure out how to regulate Airbnb. Mr. Schneiderman said the deal was “a template for other places in the country where the issue has been raised.” An Airbnb spokesman declined to comment on that point. READ THE FULL STORY.
Without the names, it will be hard to make much of this data. For instance, the city has no records of which homes are rented out, so an address will give you an owner but may not necessarily give you the resident.
The more that unit is sublet, the murkier the trail becomes.
Then there are properties owned by partnerships, corporations and so on where, again, the identity of the actual host may be impossible to determine.
One obvious implication of this is where a landlord is contacted and, thereby, learns that his tenant is illegally subletting. Perfect evidence for an eviction for breach of the lease.