City Beat: Airbnb, the cost of Google buses — and was there actually a protest at a Google employee’s house?

By Tim Redmond

Finally, someone has sued Airbnb over an eviction, arguing that his landlord wanted him out so the apartment could be rented as a hotel room. This could open the floodgates, since I’m sure Chris Butler is not the only person in San Francisco who has a complaint about a landlord who sees how much money can be made off Airbnb and wants to get rid of tenants.

Ironically, the San Francisco Apartment Association doesn’t like Airbnb, either. From my friend Steve Jones at sfbg.com:

Janan New, executive director of the San Francisco Apartment Association, told me this week that she found 1,100 rent-controlled San Francisco apartments listed on Airbnb — almost all of it in violation of local tenant and zoning laws.

So the landlord groups don’t like it, the tenant groups don’t like it, it may be causing evictions, the city is getting cheated out of maybe $300,000 a day, and the mayor seems to think this is all fine because it’s the “sharing economy?” I suspect we are going to see some local regulations soon – and would the mayor veto that? (more after the jump)