Actor evicted because he let spare room on Airbnb

Leo Cassini, an actor and writer, did not think there would be a problem when he used Airbnb to let the spare room in his central London apartment, where he has lived for 13 years. A filming project had fallen through, and to tide him over financially during the summer he took in guests via Airbnb, usually just for a day or two at a time. But then his landlord discovered he had been subletting – and in two weeks he will be homeless as the landlord enforces an eviction notice.

Cassini joins many others across the globe who have fallen victim to rental contracts banning tenants from sub-letting, including via websites such as Airbnb. In San Francisco, where Airbnb has its headquarters, tenants have faced orders to quit their homes within three days because they have violated their lease by using the site.

Cassini’s landlord is a charity, and a famous one at that. His flat, close to London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital, is one of 103 residential properties in the area owned by Rugby School, the top private school where annual fees for pupils can exceed £30,000 a year. Cassini has lobbied the Bishop of Birmingham, a governor of the school, but to no avail, and on 1 April will have to quit the home where he has lived since 2002 and where he says he has always scrupulously paid the £1,800-a-month rent (£21,600 a year) on time.

But the twist in Cassini’s story is that his eviction comes just as the government – to the shock and despair of landlords across Britain – is proposing legislation that will protect tenants who want to use “sharing economy” sites such as Airbnb to let spare rooms over the short term.

Cassini’s apartment is a two-bed flat, originally let unfurnished. “I’ve done it up, kept it looking immaculate and always paid on time,” he says. “I didn’t even think I was even really subletting, as I was always there, just letting out the spare room because a filming project I was on got pulled at the last minute.”

He can’t be certain how the landlord’s agents discovered he was on Airbnb (he thinks a complaint was made by another flat dweller about security issues), but in March 2014 he was stunned to receive a 60-day notice to quit.

“I called the letting agent who told me I was not allowed to sublet, and that in doing so I was trying to make money out of a charity,” he says. “He kept going on about how I had sublet, and let other people take over the property.”

But Cassini says he was then told he could stay if he could re-establish trust with the landlord. Then, later in 2014, while he was away on another filming project, his brother and a friend stayed for a few weeks at the flat. There was no payment involved, but when the friend was spotted fiddling with keys outside the block, Cassini was reported once again to the landlord for taking in paying guests. An eviction order was obtained at a court hearing in January and now Cassini has just days before he must leave the flat. Because the eviction is a section 21 order, the landlord is not required to give any reason for ending the tenancy.

Cassini reckons it may not just be the fact that he temporarily sublet on Airbnb that explains why he has been ordered to leave. Rugby School’s properties, centred around the now very fashionable Lamb’s Conduit Street, have shot up in value, and he wonders if the landlord is also trying to move him out to jack up the rent.

“I would say the £1,800 a month I am paying is slightly below market rent for the area, but it is still very good money that Rugby are getting. I get the feeling that the school seems to think the feudal system is still alive and well and they can treat people like me as serfs.”

In a statement, the governing body of Rugby School says: “[We] have been aware since October 2013 that Mr Cassini has been repeatedly subletting the property in breach of the terms of the tenancy agreement. He was reminded on several occasions, both verbally and in writing, of the terms of his tenancy agreement, and was requested to desist from subletting; however, despite giving a commitment on more than one occasion that he would stop, Mr Cassini has continued to sublet the property.

“The Governing Body of Rugby School, which owns the property, has been patient with Mr Cassini but was left with no alternative but to follow legal procedures to terminate the lease due to Mr Cassini’s frequent breaches of the agreement.”

But Alex Hilton, director of Generation Rent, which campaigns on behalf of tenants, says: “If renters hit a difficult patch, they are damned if they sublet and damned if they don’t. It is excellent news that the government wants to protect renters who sublet their spare space, but as long as section 21 exists, the rights of the landlord will always override those of their tenants.”

Landlords fume as government initiative allows private tenants to sublet

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Documents released following George Osborne’s budget speech last week show that the government is planning to bring in legislation that will allow tenants to sublet for short periods of time via websites such as Airbnb, in a move that has outraged Britain’s property industry.

In the budget Red Book 2015 under the heading “Support for the sharing economy”, it says:

The government wants to ensure that Britain is the global centre for the sharing economy, enabling individuals and businesses to make the most of their assets, resources, time and skills through a range of online platforms. This budget therefore announces a comprehensive package of measures that will break down barriers, create opportunities for sharing, and unlock the potential of this dynamic and growing area.

Building on the recommendations of the independent review of the sharing economy, the government will: Make it easier for individuals to sublet a room through its intention to legislate to prevent the use of clauses in private fixed-term residential tenancy agreements that expressly rule out subletting or otherwise sharing space on a short-term basis, and consider extending this prohibition to statutory periodic tenancies.

Guardian Money sought clarification from housing minister Brandon Lewis. In a statement, he says: “Tenants should be able to ask for permission to sublet their home without expecting a blanket refusal in every case – but landlords should also have the right to know who is living in their property. Our proposals would mean a tenant could ask for this permission under the model tenancy agreement, with landlords having the right of refusal offering reasons for that decision and within a reasonable time frame.”

The document goes on to say that the government will amend model agreements for assured shorthold tenancies by summer 2015, so that tenants in private rented accommodation can request their landlord’s permission to sublet or otherwise share space on a short-term basis. Provided the requests are reasonable, it will be difficult for landlords to turn them down.

But the measures have sent landlords apoplectic. On one landlord forum, Gary Nock of SCN Properties says: “Oh my god! Where did this lunacy come from? So we as landlords conduct due diligence to ensure we comply with insurance clauses on only renting to ‘professional’ tenants ... [We] conduct immigration checks. Many of us are regulated through PRS, DPS, selective licensing. And then our tenants can rent our properties to anyone without any control or sanction whatsoever. Madness.”

Another landlord, Monty Bodkin, wrote: “Consider if you let your two-bed semi out to a respectable couple. They then put an ad on a site like Airbnb, sub-let the two double rooms to transient families and kip in the lounge. The extra damage caused would be horrendous, far higher than the deposit – even if excessive fair wear and tear could be proved beyond reasonable doubt. Not to mention creating a de facto overcrowded house in multiple occupation, annoying the neighbours, parking problems, breaching mortgage conditions, leasehold conditions etc. Doubtless the deregulation bill will be amended to prevent landlords carrying out section 21 ‘revenge’ eviction in such circumstances.” But a tenants’ group was in favour of the proposals. “Generation Rent has welcomed the chancellor’s commitment to give tenants the right to sublet on a short-term basis, and has urged the government to protect renters further by reforming eviction law,” the campaign group says.

It fears that if tenants do sublet, even with the landlord’s grudging permission, then they open themselves up for later eviction because section 21 notices do not require a landlord to give any reason as to why they want the property back.

Meanwhile, landlord groups are vigorously pressing government officials to reverse the initiative. The chairman of the Residential Landlords Association, Alan Ward, says:“The measures on subletting are a nightmare in the making and smack of ‘back of the fag packet’ policymaking. Key questions remained unanswered, such as who will be responsible for a property if the tenant subletting leaves the house, but the tenant they are subletting to stays? Similarly, given the government wants landlords to check the immigration status of their tenants, who would be responsible for checking the status where subletting occurs?”

Paul Shamplina of Landlord Action, a group that assists property owners that have problem tenants, says: “This caught everyone unawares. It comes at a time when we have never had so many complaints from landlords about subletting. We’re even working on a documentary with Channel 5 at the moment highlighting loads of subletting scandals.”