airbnb

A New York man who rented his apartment through Airbnb was found to have violated the city’s residency laws, marking the first legal setback for the peer-to-peer home rental start-up as it faces a growing number of regulatory questions.

An administrative law judge ruled that Nigel Warren had broken a 2010 New York City law when he accepted about $600 from a Russian tourist to stay in his apartment for a few days while he was out of town. The law prohibits apartment owners from renting property for less than 30 days, and was intended to crack down on landlords who bought affordable housing units and then converted them to hotels to make more money. Mr Warren was fined $2,400. Read more

Chris Nuttall

In this fevered climate of big funding rounds and IPO plans for the hottest tech startups, allegations of founder greed have been flying around.

Airbnb’s founders, who recently suffered a PR disaster when thieves vandalised the apartment of a user of their holiday letting service, this weekend found themselves under fire from bloggers again – this time over their latest funding round.

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Tech news from around the web:

Sprint Nextel is set to begin selling the new version of the Apple iPhone in mid-October, according to The Wall Street Journal. As well as boosting the US number -three carrier’s product line-up, Apple will also benefit from another sales channel for its popular handset. Read more

Tech news from around the web:

Airbnb, the online service that helps homeowners rent out their houses to holidaymakers, is to strengthen its safety and security guidelines after a customer’s house was vandalised and ransacked by a renter, Techcrunch reports. A statement from chief executive Brian Chesky says the company, which hit a billion-dollar valuation in a recent fundraising, will now beef up its customer support, client education and safety functions. Read more