Thursday, December 10, 2015

3 bedroom apartment turned into illegal AirBnB hotel


From PIX11:

Eddie Shiew owns a three-story home in Elmhurst, Queens, as a rental property. He recently rented the third floor, a three-bedroom apartment, to Burak Firik and Dogan Kimilli for $2,500 a month.

But after signing the lease, the landlord says he got a call from one of the tenants on the first floor telling him it appeared that construction was going on in the third floor.

Shiew says he went to the building and found that the third floor was in fact being renovated without his knowledge.

“I went in the next day and found they had turned a three-bedroom into a 10-bedroom apartment."

Shiew said it appeared that through the use of sheetrock, a construction crew had divided each bedroom into three small bedrooms.

He says he then discovered that Firik and Kimilli were listing the rooms for rent on airbnb.com, a website for people looking for a cheap place to stay for a short time, usually in someone’s home. And airbnb customers are who PIX11 found living in the apartment. PIX11 spoke with two tourists who were paying $35 dollars a night for a room on the third floor.


Here's how some landlords are fighting back against this.

13 comments:

(sarc) said...

Living in this City is not cheap.

We have bills to pay...

Anonymous said...

Is this suppose to be new?

Anonymous said...

This situation is a reality for landlords all over Elmhurst, Corona, & Flushing. I give this landlord much Kudos for bringing this to the attention of the media. I don't understand why others aren't doing the same. The more it is out there the better the chance that our lazy politicians and city council will actually do something about it. KEEP UP THE PRESSURE!!

Anonymous said...

I bet these guys will be as hard to evict as those deadbeats Crapper was talking about yesterday.

At least they pay the rent, right?

Anonymous said...

2500 in Elmhurst?

georgetheatheist said...

F.Y.I.: Boarding House. fascinating read...Sherlock Holmes lived in one and George Bailey's mother ran one in Bailey's alternative life.

Anonymous said...

This is what happens when you rent to white tenants.

Anonymous said...

@This is what happens when you rent to white tenants.

Not that the Bayside AirBnB incident involved an other ethnic group. Right?

Why do people always have to specify race is beyond me.
It only serves the conquer and divide interests.

JQ LLC said...

More smug scumbags "hosting" on airbnb

Can it really be xenophobic to think and say that this would be beneficial for terrorists to exploit? As by the recent massacre by that deluded idiotic couple in San Bernandino can attest, ISIS is well aware of our insane laws and loopholes to acquire and possess automatic weapons and thousands of rounds, why wouldn't they publish on their social media feeds about the favorable leeway states give to app based purchasing of cheap lodging. Especially since their hosts and transients aren't even properly regulated and vetted.

This 30 day rule is not even being considered. First off I think it applies to owners of the house or building, not to tenants, it's preposterous that these piles of breathing talking and walking shit getting away with this.

And what all this ubiquitous consumerism and incessant advertising from this criminal enterprise app brought to the city? Any improvements in transit? Any infrastructure improvements or upgrades? All it's brought is congestion,filth and degradation to essential services and continued over-saturation of hyper-development. In addition to the continued unnecessary duress to long time and still struggling residents of this city. Including the guy in the video.

This has to stop immediately, but we have to wait until something fatally horrific happens.

But as with San Bernandino, which should hasten rational gun control and proper vetting of it's consumers and their mental capacities (maybe if they called it assault weapon control), apparently when there is tons of money to be made from a particular industry, it ain't going to change either.

Anonymous said...

ANY TERRORIST GROUP COULD EASILY TAKE ADVANTAGE OF RENT GUIDELINES TO RESIDE IN ANY STATE AND UTILIZE THAT LIVING SPACE AS A HOME BASE FOR PLANNING TERRORIST ACTS. JUST RESEARCH CASES OF TENANT ABUSE INVOLVING AIRB&B AND YOU'LL SEE HOW PLAUSIBLE IT IS THAT SUCH A SCENARIO COULD TAKE PLACE. NOT ALL ONLINE BUSINESS ARE FOOL PROOF.

Anonymous said...

Nowadays its just easier to hide your tracks. When you have legislation that is poorly written and thought out, the loopholes undercut the effectiveness of those regulations. I think AirB&B should be regulated and closely monitored by the gov't. Organized crime is thriving thanks to this website.

Anonymous said...

the guys renting the beds are not tourists. they are illegal immigrants. this is an overpriced flop house. At least in a flop house you got walls almost to the ceiling and wire cage and a padlock. this curtain doesn't reach to the floor.

tell me the men who rented the place are Muslims.

anon123 said...

> the guys renting the beds are not tourists. they are illegal immigrants. this is an overpriced flop house. At least in a flop house you got walls almost to the ceiling and wire cage and a padlock. this curtain doesn't reach to the floor.

$35/day is too expensive for illegal immigrant [workers] who tend to stay for months if not years. A small room like that would cost around $200-300/mo and a large room maybe $500 to under $1000/mo depending on area.