Queer activist collective ordered to vacate Camps Bay Airbnb after missing check-out date
The Western Cape High Court ruled the group should vacate the property by no later than 8 October.
A “Queer Radical Feminist, Activist Collective” from Cape Town are occupying an empty, luxury Airbnb mansion in Camps Bay to protest inequality. Image: Screenshot – Twitter / Quinton Mtyala @mtyala
The collective of artists and LGBTQI+ people occupying an Airbnb house in Camps Bay were ordered to vacate the luxury property on Friday.
The Western Cape High Court ruled the group should vacate the property by no later than 8 October.
After arguing three of them had nowhere to go, the City of Cape Town offered to give them emergency accommodation in Philippi, on the grounds that they qualify for it.
They indicated they would abide by the court order.
On 21 September, they gained entrance to the short-term rental by raising money through family, friends and supporters and let the agent know what their intentions were as they stayed beyond the original booking dates.
Checkout
They did not adhere to a checkout deadline given a few days later.
They said they occupied the property to draw attention to disparities between people struggling for safe accommodation and the potential that often empty “investment” properties provided a solution to this.
Property manager Turnkey365 warned of legal and civil proceedings and the recovery of all costs if they did not leave.
It said it sympathised with their cause but also intended to protect the legal rights of its business, the homeowner, and colleagues across the tourism industry.
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