Sunset Park Airbnb Host Says City Fined Him For Protesting Bill

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — A Sunset Park Airbnb host accused the city of slapping him with tens of thousands of dollars in fines because he spoke out against a new bill that targets the apartment share platform, records show.

Stanley "Skip" Karol, 58, filed a lawsuit Wednesday claiming city inspectors fined him $32,000 because he openly opposed proposed AirBnB regulations during a City Council hearing in June.

“I believe that the City has sought to silence me, by not only saddling me with massive fines, but also making me feel unsafe in my own home,” said Karol. “Of all the Airbnb listings in the entire city, the City chose to go after mine.”

Karol testified on June 26— during a hearing for new legislation that would force AirBnB to had its data over to the city — that he relies on the income AirBnB provides allows him to pay the mortgage on his two-bedroom Sunset Park home, according to his civil rights complaint filed in Manhattan Federal Court.

About one week later, Office of Special Enforcement officers pounded on his door, told Karol he was the subject of an anonymous complaint, and charged with leasing out illegal short-term rentals, the suit said.

When Karol told the officers he suffered from epilepsy and warned them stressful situations could trigger seizures, one officer began to tease him, according to the suit.

“When Mr. Karol requested the officers’ badge numbers, one officer said in a mocking tone that he would write the badge numbers down so that Mr. Karol wouldn’t have a seizure.”

The suit was filed on the same day the City Council voted on the bill Karol testified against in June. Should it pass, AirBnb and similar platforms will have to give the city’s enforcement office its hosts’ names and addresses of all its hosts to an enforcement office.

City officials who support the law argue city law enforcement agencies need to police illegal hotel operators who keep tenants in unsafe conditions. But Karol's suit countered that the bill’s supporters are anonymously filing false complaints against homeowners who publicly defend Airbnb.

"I felt like, I'm not safe in my own home," Karol said in an AirBnB video that accuses hotel industry professionals of reporting hosts to city law enforcement agencies. "What's the point? To scare me so I don't do AirBnB?"

The city’s Law Department did not immediately respond to Patch’s request for comment.

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