New Yorkers renting out apartments on Airbnb are being raided by a little-known city task force that videotapes tenants, property owners say.
The squad includes NYPD, FDNY and Buildings Department inspectors who travel in groups of three to five and search for illegal hotels after receiving 311 complaints.
"They put their foot in the door and say, 'Are you not granting entry to a police officer?' " said one resident, who has paid thousands in fines. "They intimidate people into giving answers they want to hear. They were demanding to get into the apartment."
Mina Guirguis, 39, saw his Union Square rental apartment raided five times since 2011 — even though he believed he was working within short-term rental laws since he was living in the building when boarders stayed there.
The task force is part of the Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement, created by then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2006 to address quality-of-life violations, including illegal hostels and hotels.
The squad includes a fire-prevention inspector, a Finance Department investigator, Department of Buildings inspectors and NYPD officers. They do not conduct illegal searches or focus solely on Airbnb rentals, a City Hall spokeswoman claimed.
Still, Airbnb has been in the cross hairs as officials call for a citywide crackdown on illegal listings.
They pressured them by saying, 'How did you find this place? What website did you use?' - Cass Almendral on a raid at his apartment
In September, Guirguis and his wife Szilvia were booted from their Fifth Avenue apartment after the de Blasio administration filed a lawsuit against him and landlords Hamid Kermanshah and Abdolmajid Kermanshah for running an illegal hotel.
It was the city's first suit targeting property owners for subletting units on Airbnb.com. Under city law, renting out apartments for fewer than 30 straight days is illegal.
Guirguis said he spent more than $100,000 renovating rental units at two Kermanshah buildings so he could rent them out with the landlords' permission. Now he's homeless as he battles the city in court.
Guirguis lived at the five-unit 59 Fifth Ave. He rented out two stories of a 10-story West 31st Street building and made sure permanent residents lived there.
His attorney, Kent Gubrud, is trying to get the case dismissed on the grounds of illegal search and seizure. He also charges the city's illegal- hotel argument is without legal basis.
Cass Almendral, a former Airbnb host, said the task force entered his East 50th Street apartment over the summer and questioned terrified French tourists staying there.
"They pressured them by saying, 'How did you find this place? What website did you use?' " he said.
Almendral's co-op board was fined $50,000 by the ECB. Building lawyers managed to reduce the penalty to $4,100 but Almendral owes more than $5,000 because of legal fees.
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