DENVER, Oct. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Apartment
Investment and Management Company (Aimco) and four of its
subsidiaries today filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in
the U.S. District Court in the Central District of California to halt Airbnb's brokering of
short-term rental transactions at four of Aimco's Southern California properties. This action
seeks to alleviate the irreparable harm to those apartment
communities and their residents caused by Airbnb's transactions
pending the final ruling on Aimco's lawsuit to prohibit Airbnb's
participation in the unauthorized subletting of Aimco's apartment
homes and repeated abuse of Aimco's private property rights.
Key arguments in Aimco's motion include:
- Airbnb continues to actively broker sublease transactions at
Aimco's apartment communities without Aimco's approval despite
knowing that Aimco leases strictly prohibit short-term rentals.
Aimco formally notified Airbnb of this breaching of leases on
several occasions yet Airbnb has displayed a total disregard for
Aimco's right to decide how its own property is to be used.
- Airbnb has blatantly ignored Aimco's requests to cease listing
and brokering its apartments even though Airbnb has quickly removed
other listings and prevented rental transactions when in Airbnb's
own best interest.
- Airbnb customers are unvetted trespassers on Aimco property,
often engage in disruptive or destructive behavior, diminish the
peaceful residential living experience for Aimco residents, and
create safety concerns.
- Short-term rentals contracted through Airbnb have had, and
continue to have, a significant negative economic impact on Aimco,
which has invested substantial resources in hiring extra security
teams, evicting trespassing Airbnb users and breaching tenants,
engaging third-party tracking services to try to identify
apartments listed on Airbnb and repairing property damage caused by
trespassing Airbnb users. In addition, Aimco onsite teams have had
to redirect a substantial amount of their time to monitor and
prevent illegal subletting activities, all while Airbnb continues
to profit from the unauthorized uses of Aimco's properties.
"The most important responsibility we have as owners and
operators of apartment homes is to create a community of residents
who are invested in being good neighbors," said Aimco Executive
Vice President of Operations Keith
Kimmel. "That is why Aimco has made the deliberate choice to
expressly prohibit short-term rentals to transient, unaccountable
Airbnb users and other travelers who have not undergone our
background screening and who are more apt to treat our apartments
like hotel rooms rather than homes."
Kimmel added, "If other property owners decide it is worthwhile
to do business with Airbnb, that is their right. However,
Aimco and other concerned property owners are entitled to their
right not to participate in this subletting
activity. It is astounding to us that Airbnb blatantly ignores
and disrespects our rights as property owners, contracts with some
of our residents to breach their leases, and knowingly interferes
with, and directly profits from, the contractual agreements we have
with our residents."
Aimco filed initial lawsuits against Airbnb in February in
Florida and California. The
continued proliferation of Airbnb's activities that result in
illicit subletting of apartments, the many concerns expressed by
Aimco full-time residents, and the undue business burden placed on
Aimco's onsite community teams have motivated the company to pursue
a more aggressive legal strategy.
Aimco is one of the country's largest owners and operators of
apartments with 188 communities in 22 states and the District of Columbia. Aimco common shares are
traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol AIV
and are included in the S&P 500. For more information
about Aimco, please visit our website
at www.aimco.com.
View original content with
multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aimco-asks-court-to-halt-airbnb-activity-pending-a-final-ruling-on-lawsuit-to-bar-illegal-subleasing-of-apartments-300539039.html
SOURCE Aimco