Bed-Stuy Airbnb Operator Fights $5K Fine

BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — The woman who was fined $5,000 this week for running an Airbnb out of her Bed-Stuy brownstone told Patch that inspectors from the Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement (MOSE) "coerced their way" into her building with no warrant and "accosted" a family renting a room there.

Tatiana Cames was fined $5,000 — five charges with a $1,000 penalty each — by the city under a new law passed in October. The law makes it illegal to rent out rooms in a building for less than 30 days if the host isn't physically there. Cames said her ex-husband lives in the building 24 hours a day and seven days a week.

"He lives there full time, so it is owner occupied. It is his primary residence," she told Patch in an email.

The building is registered under 341 HANCOCK LLC, a limited liability corporation which Cames said is made up of her, her ex-husband Bruno Cames and their daughter, who lives with Bruno.

According to Cames, city inspectors "banged on the doors really loudly" to her building on Feb. 1 while a French family was renting an apartment. Then the inspectors asked the family questions, "not letting them know they had the option not to answer questions... clearly making them feel very uncomfortable," Cames said.

According to the MOSE, the inspectors were given permission to enter the property on Feb. 1. They had no warrant, but the MOSE said a warrant isn't needed when the owner gave access. It wasn't immediately clear who gave them access to the inside of the property.

The Department of Buildings issued several safety violations and a vacate order for two illegal apartments in the building on Feb. 2, according to MOSE. Later that day, Cames told the inspectors, who wanted to explain the vacate order and make sure there were no remaining renters, that they couldn't come in, MOSE said.

Cames was served with one charge per Airbnb listing she posted for 320 Macon St., which she bought in 2015 for $2.15 million, city records show. The building was also found to have inadequate fire alarm and sprinklers, illegal transient use, occupancy contrary to the Certificate of Occupancy, construction work on additional units without a permit and an inadequate exit in one of the apartments, according to what the City Law Department called "procured documents." Additionally, according to the City Law Department, the two top floors were split in half, so the front apartments had no fire escape.

Cames had a different story. She said 320 Macon St. has had no alterations to its original layout that she said had been filed, inspected and approved by the city. She said the house is two buildings that were joined together and "now flow as one." The brick wall that joins the buildings might have seemed like the floor was split in two, but it is actually a part of the building's structure, according to Cames. To keep up with the new Airbnb law and other Bed-Stuy local news, subscribe to the Bed-Stuy Patch for email newsletters and alerts that go to your phone.

Cames believes the new Airbnb law serves to benefit big business and hotels.

"Basically, this law mandates that anyone who wishes to visit New York must stay in a hotel," she wrote in an email to Patch. The law, she believes, "is a classic example of politicians ensuring that big business gets its way all the time."

Lead photo of 320 Macon St. via Google Map