Rentals Airbnb go wrong: when the prostitution prompt in your apartment

File Photo, Reuters

QMI agency

Thursday, July 20 2017 15:27

UPDATE
Thursday, July 20 2017 15:27

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MONTREAL street gangs are increasingly using Airbnb for the rental of premises where they offer services of prostitution in Montreal.

So that simple citizens who rent their apartment in good faith find themselves with big problems on the arms.

When you are renting your apartment through the platform Airbnb, the company performs certain checks on the identity of the person concerned.

But, more and more criminal organizations such as street gangs, use Airbnb for activities related to prostitution.

For these groups, do business with individuals has at least two advantages: it is less expensive and the location will be less guarded than a hotel room, for example, where the surveillance cameras are often in service 24 hours per day.

Photos obtained by TVA Nouvelles illustrate with a crash the risk which may be exposed to the followers of Airbnb. A loft in the Old Montreal, one sees the furniture ransacked, broken pieces on the floor, in short, the residence is in a sorry state.

“You arrive in the apartment, there are girls that are out there and condoms lying around, they smoked inside, you see lines of cocaine on the tables, describes Jeff Letendre, founder of Like a Hotel, a company that has developed methods of verification in order to minimize this kind of unwanted situations.

“This is not normal for one afternoon to find the girls, it goes there. And quite often, when the police arrives, it will come out by the exit in the rear, it runs everywhere, I’ve seen that jump at the bottom of the balconies”, said Mr. Letendre.

The problem, well known to police, is not unique to Quebec. It can also be observed in the United States and Europe. The police forces are trying to organize to fight this new form of crime. In order that ordinary citizens do not find themselves victims of the acts as reprehensible.