Man rents out flatmate's room on Airbnb - without telling him

Robert Corwin, a digital artist, returned home to find strangers in his Chicago flat

Rose Troup Buchanan
Thursday 03 September 2015 14:45 BST
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It was not a welcome home that anyone would have wanted.

A Chicago man returned to his flat to find a couple living in his bedroom after his flatmate rented out the room without telling him.

Robert Corwin, a digital artist who divides his time between California and Chicago, allegedly came home to find all of his booze drunk and a shisha pipe in his living room.

“Your imagination goes crazy,” he told CBS Chicago. “What’s been going on? It could be everything from orgies to drugs.”

Fortunately, it was neither.

Instead Mr Corwin’s housemate – who reports suggest has subsequently moved out – apparently thought he would make some money by renting out his roommate’s master bedroom.

AirBnB did not respond to requests for comment from The Independent but CBS news reported that the company said it was looking into Mr Corwin’s claims.

“Airbnb does not own, operate, manage or control accommodations, nor do we verify private contract terms or arbitrate complaints from third parties,” a statement from AirBnB read.

It is hardly the first time the popular online firm has reportedly run into trouble for a similar situation.

In April of this year a woman discovered her housemates had been secretly renting their flat on AirBnB when she was abroad.

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