After finding out that her condo had been listed on Airbnb for months without her knowledge or consent, Allison Rasquinha is suing her former tenant, the tenant’s boyfriend, the City of Toronto, and Airbnb.

Rasquinha states that the condo corporation’s rules were violated after former tenants Michele Nicole Carter and her boyfriend Jose Cornejo Kelly registered her condo on Airbnb and rented it out at least 30 times.

$1.6M in damages seeked for financial losses and mental anguish

The lawsuit accuses Airbnb and the City of Toronto for allowing the registration of the condo without checking if Carter and Cornejo Kelly had the right to rent out the property. Although Rasquinha is claiming financial losses, mental anguish, and other harms, the allegations have yet to be proven in court.

In February, the condo’s security team contacted Rasquinha about her potential unauthorized Airbnb business but denied knowing anything about it. She then contacted Carter about it and in March found her unit listed on Airbnb. Rasquinha contacted the tenants again in hopes of ending the situation.

Rasquinha claims that Airbnb failed to promptly remove the listing of her unit after she informed the company of the situation in March. It wasn’t until April 16 that the listing was removed after confirming the ownership of the condo.

The city should be doing more to vet people who apply for short-term rental registration

Allison Rasquinha

The lawsuit also accuses the City of Toronto of negligence since no background checks were conducted to confirm if the tenants were authorized to rent out the unit. The registration process in the city is different depending on if the hosts are listing a short-term rental or long-term rental. Short-term rental registration only requires the hosts to prove that the listing is their “principal residence” using ID.

An employee of the city said that they do not have the resources to verify short-term rental registrations and that it is the property manager’s duty to inform tenants of any rules. Rasquinha said that the City of Toronto can’t be handing out licenses like candy.