Wednesday, January 6, 2016

AirBnB jerks scammed other landlords


From WPIX:

Last month we reported on a landlord in Elmhurst, Queens who said he was being scammed by two tenants.

Landlord Eddie Shiew rented the top floor of his three bedroom home to Burak Firik and Dogan Kimilli. Without permission , Firik and Kimilli renovated the three bedroom apartment into ten small sleeping quarters. They then allegedly advertised the bedrooms on Airbnb.com for $35 dollars a night and up.

When Shiew, who does not live in the building, found out, he tore down the renovations and changed the locks. He ordered the tenants to vacate the apartment, but they went to court and a judge ruled the landlord has to go through formal eviction proceedings to get Kimilli and Firik out.

After our report last month, we received tips from at least four other landlords who said Burak Firik had done the same thing to them.

Landlord Richard Birrer rented a two bedroom apartment in Sunnyside, Queens, to Firik.

Birrer says without his knowledge or permission, Firik and a group of workmen converted the two bedroom into a 6 bedroom apartment and then began renting it on Airbnb.com. When Birrer realized what had been done to the apartment, he says asked Firik to undo the renovations.

“He said he knew the laws and there was nothing we could do about it,” said Birrer. “He was very extremely arrogant.”

Richard and his wife, Christina, who own the building, hired an attorney and sued Birack Firik in housing court. The entire process took five months, but the judge finally ruled in favor of the landlords.

The Birrers estimate that Firik collected $5,000-$6,000 a month from Airbnb tenants during the five months before he was evicted.

21 comments:

(sarc) said...

Entrepreneurs!!!

JQ LLC said...

Piles of Shit also.

Airbnb is a criminal enterprise. Their defense and justification for their existence is that they provide a service to people who struggle to pay rent on apartments they can't afford or for middle class homeowners to earn some extra income to pay bills, buy food or anything else costly as the majority of workers wages stay stagnant.

It reads pretty good, which all press releases do, but those two maggots prove how the .company operates in cities worldwide they infect and manipulates the ridiculous laws to their and their unregulated hosts advantage.

Let's hope these two have the attention of the F.B.I. now since they are so smug and cocky.

And if you can't afford to go to a hotel, motel in NYC or anywhere in the boroughs, presumingly in trendy hip burghs in Brooklyn and Queens. Don't...fucking...come...here.

Anonymous said...

Honestly, what did they expect?

Millenials have no concept of rules or laws. It's only how to scam for them.

Anonymous said...

And what happened to AirBnB? did they agree to suspend listings posted by these jerks? Can they be held culpable in any way?

Gary W said...

Not only the FBI hopefully the IRS, I'm sure they reported all that income

Anonymous said...

Vibrancy at it's Finest!

Anonymous said...

I WISH EVERY LANDLORD IN THE OUTER BORO'S WOULD COME FORWARD JUST LIKE THE ONES FEATURED IN THIS NEWS STORY. THERE IS POWER IN NUMBERS AND IF THE LAWMAKERS OF THE CITY SEE THIS TREND THEN MAYBE THEY JUST MIGHT WAKE UP AND CHANGE THE LAWS TO PROTECT HONEST LANDLORDS. WE ARE NOT ALL BAD !!

(sarc) said...

Anon

On the left side of the keyboard, just under the "TAB" key and just above the "SHIFT" key is the "CAPS LOCK" key.

PRESS IT AND STOP WITH THE ALL CAPITAL LETTERS!

It is rude arrogant, stupid, annoying and distracting.

People are overlooking and dismissing your posts because of it.

Unless you are purposefully trying to be a total ass, for goodness sake, turn off the CAPS

If you want to be known and stay anonymous, choose a name, like CAP LOCK...


It is very difficult to read, see story here
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/14/throughout-the-city-a-new-generation-of-street-signs/?_r=0

Anonymous said...

Imagine living under those apartments...

Anyway, it's clear that Airbnb doesn't care or want to know about people who abuse their system. They have no "flag" or other type of report abuse feature on their website. An efficient system would have been for the landlord to report them to Airbnb and have Airbnb take down their ads.

Anyway, it annoys me even if a person doesn't modify their apt - I don't want random people coming in and out of the building. *My annoying neighbors are enough!

(*sarcasm)

Anonymous said...

NYC Housing Laws are so pro tenant, that even when the tenants break the laws, it's the landlord who pays the price - lost rent, damage to property, physical threats, emotional stress, and the aggravation.

Anonymous said...

WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH CAPS???

Anonymous said...

Housing court is pro tenant? who ever posted that myth has either never been in housing court having gotten behind in their rent or else they work for landlord's lawyer.

Anonymous said...

ALL CAPS is terrible for internet communications, but it's great for street signs. The new signs are ugly, generic looking, and hard to read.

The tiny unreadable street signs in Nassau and Suffolk - those need to be changed.

Anonymous said...

It is rude arrogant, stupid, annoying and distracting.

How is that? I don't care as long as I can read what he or she has to write.
Prime example of overly sensitive souls around the net.

Anonymous said...

I like all caps personally,bad eyes so no complaints here.

Anonymous said...

Here Airbnb stories :

http://arstechnica.com/business/2016/01/op-ed-this-is-why-people-hate-airbnb/

Part of Agenda 21 with micro/mini apartments, bike lanes, etc. while pockets are being lined nicely and competition crushed via not paying taxes.

Anonymous said...

If lawmakers close the loopholes that allow for this fraud to happen in the first place then this wouldn't be such a persistent problem.

Anonymous said...

If lawmakers.....that's a big IF!!!! :):)

Anonymous said...

Housing court is pro tenant? who ever posted that myth has either never been in housing court having gotten behind in their rent or else they work for landlord's lawyer.
------------

You're right. I've never been behind on my rent, because i'm not a worthless bum.

Anonymous said...

Dogan Kimilli along with his partner, "finace," Nurcan Oszoy did the same thing
to us. This is a ring! they are a mafia concentrating in SUNNYSIDE, Queens. These people must be stopped before they hurt anyone else. Beware landlords.

yogesh said...

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