Toronto landlord alleges tenants rented unit on Airbnb at least 30 times without her knowledge in $1.6M lawsuit
CTV
A Toronto woman has launched a lawsuit seeking more than a million dollars from Airbnb, the City of Toronto, and two tenants after the condo she owns was allegedly rented out on the short-term rental platform dozens of times without her knowledge.
A Toronto woman has launched a lawsuit seeking more than 1.5 million dollars from Airbnb, the City of Toronto, and two former tenants after the condominium she owns was allegedly rented out on the short-term rental platform dozens of times without her knowledge.
A civil lawsuit filed with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on behalf of Toronto resident Allison Rasquinha is seeking a collective $1.6 million from the defendants, claiming that in February 2023, Rasquinha became aware her Adelaide Street West condominium had been rented out as an unauthorized short-term rental property more than 30 times in the past year.
“It went on for quite some time without my knowledge,” Rasquinha told The Vassy Kapelos Show Tuesday. “It was just such a terrible feeling, like a big breach of trust.”
The lawsuit accuses Airbnb and the city of neglecting to verify whether the tenants were authorized to rent out the property on a short-term basis.
The allegations haven't been proven in court and, at the time of publication, none of the defendants had filed a statement of defence.
When reached for comment, Airbnb confirmed the listing had been removed and that the host is no longer able to offer rentals on the platform, and the City of Toronto said it could not provide a statement on matters while they remained before the courts. CTV News Toronto was not able to contact the two former tenants of the unit by publication.
Marielle Dahab, Rasquinha's lawyer, says all four defendants unjustly benefitted by the alleged repeated rentals, and that the case shines a light on the need for stricter municipal vetting of Airbnb operators in the city.
