Woman booted for Airbnb listing

An Aspen woman has been kicked out of her taxpayer-subsidized affordable housing for renting her apartment on Airbnb.

Katherine Peach’s lease for her one-bedroom unit was terminated last month, and she moved out. Her landord, the Aspen-pitkin County Housing Authority, learned she was violating the terms of her lease when three people came into the apartment complex office Feb. 2 asking where Airbnb #72 was, according to a letter to Peach from property manager Janine Guerrero.

It is against APCHA’S rules to rent any unit in its inventory, because occupants must live and work in Pitkin County for nine months of the year.

Also, Peach’s lease stated, “Tenant shall not receive rent or any other payment of any kind or nature whatsoever from guests or other persons using the premises.”

“To us, this is a really major thing,” said Cindy Christensen, the housing authority’s deputy director.

Guerrero’s Feb. 6 letter demanded that Peach come into compliance and remove the listing from the Airbnb website within three days. Twenty days later, the listing remained on Airbnb, causing Guerrero to write a letter informing Peach that her lease was being terminated.

Peach didn’t answer phone calls, an email or text message from The Aspen Times seeking comment.

It appears that the apartment, described as a “spacious, one-bed, full kitchen, low-key vibe” in a “locals’ community,” had been listed on Airbnb since at least April 2017.

Housing authority officials realized it had been going on in the past because the guests from Feb. 2 told housing officials the unit’s “guest book” said they could get a three-day parking pass.

Peach was asking $135 a night, with a two-night minimum stay on weekends. It’s described on Airbnb this way: “Cozy one-bed apartment is ample space for couples, family with a young one or up to four people exploring what Aspen has to offer.”

“It was a pretty blatant thing,” Christensen said. “Eventually someone was going to find out.”

Qualifications specialist Julie Kieffer said three or four compliance cases regarding online rentals come through the housing authority office a year.

The city of Aspen is in the process of hiring an outside firm to identify how many people are using online rental platforms and not paying sales and lodging taxes. Deed-restricted units will be part of the probe.