Tuesday, February 14, 2012

The house rules of a short-term rental on St. Mark's Place

We're hearing more about short-term rentals in the East Village following Friday's post about 528 E. 13th St. We heard from a former resident of 31 St. Mark's Place.

"I keep in touch with my old neighbors all the time and it sounds like the building has changed hands several times and most recently, we discovered that the owner is possibly illegally renting apartments like a hotel."

The resident points us to an Airbnb listing for a "DREAMY" apartment on St. Mark's Place...


The "approximate" address is 38 St. Mark's Place... which isn't an existing address on St. Mark's Place.

In any event, this particular listing is worth noting for the "house rules," which we reposted below... (The all caps are part of the rules; the bold is our doing)...

PLEASE BE COURTEOUS AND POLITE TO THE NEIGHBORS in the building. They do not want to live with crazy, loud people. Please: No crazy parties or loud drinking! TRY NOT TO TALK TO THEM. DO NOT TELL ANYBODY YOU ARE RENTING MY APARTMENT. DO NOT TELL ANYBODY WHICH APT YOU ARE STAYING IN. JUST TELL THEM YOU ARE A FRIEND VISITING. Please DO NOT TALK IN THE HALLWAYS. If anybody were to ask you something, you are a friend staying with me on holiday visiting New York and you did not pay me money to stay at the apartment BUT TRY TO AVOID CONVERSATION. Please try to be discreet going up the stairs and try not to linger in the hallways
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16 comments:

  1. abrodFebruary 14, 2012 at 9:09 AM

    Whatever you do, don't tell anyone I'm renting my apartment to you. No, it's not illegal at all!

    Seriously, I'd be kinda spooked if I noticed someone in my building, who I'd never seen before, obviously trying to avoid saying anything.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousFebruary 14, 2012 at 9:39 AM

    My neighbor made his living by (a) renting his apartment to tourists and (b) selling drugs. People in the building seemed more annoyed by the constant tourists rather than the drug buys.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousFebruary 14, 2012 at 9:49 AM

    I just want to make it clear that this is not being done by a "neighbor". The person who listed this does not nor has ever lived in the apartment. A matter of fact, she has listed TWO apartments in this same building as hotel rooms. (The building has only 14 units). She has also listed on airbnb other apartments on Saint Marks Place as if they are her own apartment with the same house rules.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Marty WombacherFebruary 14, 2012 at 11:01 AM

    One person's "DREAMY" is another person's "NIGHTMARE."

    ReplyDelete
  5. evflipFebruary 14, 2012 at 11:37 AM

    This is wrong in so many ways...I don't even know where to begin. Is it any wonder that we're experiencing a housing shortage in NYC rentals? Meanwhile, I wonder about the history of this unit. Who has been displaced to make way for a mini-hotelier to set up shop?
    If you know about this, who do you tell? Which city agency?

    ReplyDelete
  6. starzstylistaFebruary 14, 2012 at 12:07 PM

    They are doing this in my building. How do I know? A surfeit of rolling suitcases and the look of terror on the faces of my new upstairs neighbors when I complained about the noise. I've thought of doing it. I would only be like, literally, 500% profit a day, but I am philosophically opposed to gauging, so I will just have to live here.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousFebruary 14, 2012 at 12:31 PM

    Looks like the ad was pulled!

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousFebruary 14, 2012 at 1:20 PM

    owner is a dummy. no doubt a coop with rental restrictions. in mine, they actually found the guy's listing and he still denied he was renting it. to put these rules in the ad itself is plain dumb.

    ReplyDelete
  9. starzstylistaFebruary 14, 2012 at 2:45 PM

    If it's a classic, it hisses and sputters and you run the risk of 3rd degree burns if you come home drunk.

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousFebruary 14, 2012 at 3:56 PM

    As an owner, I wish there wassome way for me to prevent this from happening in my buidlings, but housing court has not let me evict my tenants (who have ALL bee RS, btw), even if they are scamming and ripping off people.

    If they are decontrole,d I just do not renew their lease, if they are RS, they know they can get away with it...

    ReplyDelete
  11. AnonymousFebruary 14, 2012 at 4:12 PM

    Is this bedbug FREE and are the stairs swept every day?

    ReplyDelete
  12. AnonymousFebruary 14, 2012 at 6:03 PM

    that's a damn nice kitchen! Can the owner please post where he/she got that from and who installed it? been looking for something like that for a while now.

    ReplyDelete
  13. starzstylistaFebruary 14, 2012 at 7:47 PM

    You know - these types of tenants are the bedbug spreaders. No kidding.

    ReplyDelete
  14. AnonymousFebruary 14, 2012 at 8:35 PM

    These types of renters are the bedbug sprraders, no kidding.

    ReplyDelete
  15. AnonymousFebruary 15, 2012 at 4:29 PM

    @Anon 4:12pm

    It's not bedbug free but there are FREE bedbugs.

    ReplyDelete
  16. AnonymousOctober 4, 2012 at 10:38 AM

    I live at 31 and have been there since '76. How about the fact that these "hotel apartments" are rent-stabilized? Insanity. We've been fighting for so long, too tired now. Let the rolling suitcases keep on rollin..

    ReplyDelete

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