Homeowners declare war on tenants who sublet. And they use the same – lethal – weapon: the internet. Thus, after the boom of Airbnb.com, the "counter-site" is already active in the USA: it's called Huntbnb. com (hunting for bnb) and allows homeowners to find out whether or not tenants have published an ad on the now famous seasonal rental platform.
The site is obviously equipped to find even the sly ones who register using a false address to escape controls: by typing in the exact address, Huntbnb will reply with a list of registered apartments within a radius of 500 metres. Usually, in fact, to disguise the exact address, Airbnb users use to put one in the immediate vicinity.
The "counter-platform", not yet operational outside the States (where, even there, it doesn't seem to work at its best) was conceived by two developers from San Francisco, Bhargav Errangi and Alex Stelea, who are keen (perhaps hypocritically?) to clarify that their product "is not anti-Airbnb: we just try to offer a service to owners who would like to know whether or not their property appears in the ads without their knowledge".
Certainly, however, Huntbnb is a candidate to be a potentially very welcome tool for the tax authorities, given that the seasonal rental in many countries - including the United States - is allowed but subject to tax returns and the payment of a tourist tax . In particular in the state of New York, where the phenomenon is particularly widespread, there is a 2010 law (after the creation of Airbnb) which prohibits rentals for less than 30 consecutive days, unless the legitimate occupant of the property is also present .
What about Airbnb? He's turning a deaf ear at the moment. The Californian startup, established in 2008, currently has over 6 million members worldwide and last April it entered the select club of companies with an estimated value of more than 10 billion dollars (7,5 billion euros). In the face of the brick.
