How strict is your condo association - fined for doing Airbnb (Chicago: apartment, rental)

[koctail]

My condo caught me doing Airbnb rental and fined me $4000 for violating the "no unit can be rented for vacation purposes". They did not care that I was renting only 1 of my bedrooms while I slept in the living room. I was shocked at the magnitude of the fine and also the lack of any warning. Is this normal for most high-rise condo associations?? I did speak to a lawyer and he said there is really not much I can do.

I deleted my Airbnb account and lost 30 or so future reservations. While doing Airbnb I earned around $12000. So this was profitable but a lot of work...

[ChicagoMeO]

well your apartment is not zoned for business.. you were conducting business and so it was against the condo rules. if you are that successful, then why not rent a storefront or something.

[eevee]

Originally Posted by ChicagoMeO

well your apartment is not zoned for business.. you were conducting business and so it was against the condo rules. if you are that successful, then why not rent a storefront or something.

People looking to rent through AirBnB aren't looking to rent some drafty old store front. One of the main selling points of AirBnB is the ability to rent a furnished room, apartment, or condo, and, in the case of renting a room, maybe get some local tips from the resident. Unfortunately, this is becoming an issue for a lot of AirBnB account holders, especially those in NYC, IIRC. It's all rather unfortunate and is just throttling one relatively inexpensive option for vacationing.

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by koctail

My condo caught me doing Airbnb rental and fined me $4000 for violating the "no unit can be rented for vacation purposes". They did not care that I was renting only 1 of my bedrooms while I slept in the living room. I was shocked at the magnitude of the fine and also the lack of any warning. Is this normal for most high-rise condo associations?? I did speak to a lawyer and he said there is really not much I can do.

I deleted my Airbnb account and lost 30 or so future reservations. While doing Airbnb I earned around $12000. So this was profitable but a lot of work...

Frankly if your condo board had a little more spine they should have paid their lawyers to make an example of your idioticy! Any time the rules specifically prohibit an action, like renting to "vacationers" and someone fragrantly disregards this the HOA would be well within its right to bring the harshest actions against such violations.

There have been several well publicized situations where such uses have really ended up poorly.

I am sure that once some alderman has a neighbor harmed through some nutty type "rental" that will be end of AirBnB in Chicago...

[koctail]

Originally Posted by chet everett

Frankly if your condo board had a little more spine they should have paid their lawyers to make an example of your idioticy! Any time the rules specifically prohibit an action, like renting to "vacationers" and someone fragrantly disregards this the HOA would be well within its right to bring the harshest actions against such violations.

hmm ok Mr. Goody two shoes... My condo also bans wearing of sleeping attire in the hallways. Is this also deserving of a $4000 fine??

[andrew61]

Originally Posted by koctail

My condo caught me doing Airbnb rental and fined me $4000 for violating the "no unit can be rented for vacation purposes". They did not care that I was renting only 1 of my bedrooms while I slept in the living room. I was shocked at the magnitude of the fine and also the lack of any warning. Is this normal for most high-rise condo associations?? I did speak to a lawyer and he said there is really not much I can do.

I deleted my Airbnb account and lost 30 or so future reservations. While doing Airbnb I earned around $12000. So this was profitable but a lot of work...

Yes, high-rise condos often have some really persnickety rules. Look at it this way: You made $12,000 and had to pay out $4,000 in fines. So you still netted $8,000 profit. Not bad.

[eastmemphisguy]

Now that you've put your gain on the internet, be sure and pay your taxes on it. Uncle Sam will track you down!

[chet everett]

Originally Posted by andrew61

Yes, high-rise condos often have some really persnickety rules. Look at it this way: You made $12,000 and had to pay out $4,000 in fines. So you still netted $8,000 profit. Not bad.

I have seen many HOAs that are stacked with some of the most letter-of-the-law type hard arsed attorneys that you are ever going to encounter and they take delight in wringing every last drop of blood out any turnips dumb enough to violate any rules.

Personally I would never want to live in such a place but I have sold properties for clients in such "communities" and you can generally tell from a quick review of the "official minutes" when you are walking into a some horror show of pettiness...

Get a single family home in an area with no HOA or stick the straight & narrow, I am sure that the condo supplied a set of the covenants to the OP before closing and if they did not have a buyers agent explain that these were the binding rules they have no one to blame but themself!

[cully]

Best to get some land too, then. Even in non-HOA areas there are often municipality codes of some kind that address home business or occupancy. However, I do know people in college towns that who open their homes to college parents for the big weekends (and charge), working actually through the college, a visitor's center or a reservation service and no one frowns on that. (I think in those cases, the city is just glad for the offer of extra rooms.)

[s0nginmyheart]

I have a friend who does AirBNB in a walk-up in Edgewater and has been making pretty steady income on it. I thought about doing that in my high-rise condo but am afraid of the consequences in doing so (i.e. operating a business without a license), though I feel like my building security wouldn't even notice (500 units in building).

I kind of raise my brow though at the fact that even though you, the OP/owner is present during the guests stay, your association is still fining you. How are they able to differentiate whether or not they are just "friends" staying with you?