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Airbnb will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2018. According to the Parker Madison website, the brokerage has been in business since 1996. After nearly a decade in business, Parker Madison should be able to show how Airbnb has damaged it with financial records and other factual evidence. But, the plaintiff was unable to do so, which gave Airbnb the edge in the lawsuit.

If Parker Madison wants to run a successful lawsuit against Airbnb, it will have to do better. Many of the listings on the website offer temporary housing for longer terms that are typical for hotels and other short-term rentals. This is where Parker Madison takes issue. When a company, like Airbnb, provides rental properties but does it without a real estate license, the question about the legality of Airbnb’s actions comes into question.

Instead of suing Airbnb for lost business and other financial damages, Parker Madison and other brokerage firms in New York City and other major cities around the United States need to build lawsuits that show how Airbnb is violating city ordinances. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was successful in signing a law that was designed to fine Airbnb listings that violated state and local rental regulations. Making Airbnb change its ways is the goal of these companies as they feel they cannot compete against the low fee that comes with an Airbnb rental.

Airbnb and Uber getting away from regulations

Airbnb is like Uber, where they use individual properties rather than privately owned hotels or resorts to justify not having to follow rules. Uber gets around chauffeur and taxi regulations by paying individual, “civilian” drivers to use their own cars. These alternatively run businesses are troublesome for business owners who are designed in the old models that follow rules.

The competition seems unfair for taxis who run in the same areas that Ubers run. It also seems unfair for brokers who must battle against the low fee or no fee apartment-finding service that comes with Airbnb. It is easy to understand why the class action suits were brought against Airbnb, but for the brokers to succeed, they must come up with an argument that can fought with facts and figures.