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Airbnb sues NYC over new rules requiring hosts to register their homes as short-term rentals
By
Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky
and
Christopher Werth
Published Jun 1, 2023
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Valentin Wolf / imageBROKER/Shutterstock
By
Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky
and
Christopher Werth
Published Jun 1, 2023
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Airbnb claims it faces an existential threat in New York City.
In a pair of lawsuits filed in state Supreme Court in Manhattan on Thursday, the online platform and three hosts claim that new rules requiring short-term rental properties to be registered with the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement will “all but eliminate” the market for home-based vacation stays in the city.
The registration requirement, known as Local Law 18, stems from legislation passed by the City Council last year and applies to anyone planning to rent out their property in the city for less than 30 days. The city finalized the new rules earlier this year. They went into effect in March and enforcement is scheduled to begin in July.
But Airbnb argues that the new rules are overly burdensome and complex, in part because they require hosts to obtain a unique identification account with the city, provide proof of identity and contact information, and clear all existing building violations on their properties, among other requirements. The regulations will also force Airbnb and other short-term rental platforms to cross-reference registrations with the listings on their sites, the company says — a process that it claims can be easily hindered by typos or abbreviations.
“It is literally impossible for regular people to comply with the rules,” said Airbnb’s attorney Karen Dunn at a press conference on Thursday. “These are regulations that experts will tell you no regular person could understand unless they had a history of working in building code engineering.”
The company’s complaint states that the city had only approved nine host registrations as of the beginning of May, less than two months before the enforcement deadline, according to information provided to Airbnb from the city.
“That is a de facto ban on short-term rentals in New York, and that's what the city is trying to bring about with these new rules,” Dunn said. “Airbnb will have to cancel thousands of reservations over the summer, impacting hosts and thousands of tourists planning to come to New York City. And so the city of New York is poised to be the Grinch who stole summer.”
The complaint also contends that in implementing the rule, the city ignored feedback from hosts and disregarded its unintended consequences — such as discouraging hosts from offering legal short-term rentals.
Airbnb has requested that the court stop the new rules from taking effect before enforcement begins next month.
The city has about 12,000 Airbnb listings that are booked for short stays on a regular basis. More than 60% of those are full homes or apartments, many of which will be barred from registering under the new rules. While these short-term rentals are common practice, they are already illegal under New York state’s multiple dwelling law, which only allows hosts to rent out their own homes while they are present.
Jonah Allon, a City Hall spokesperson, said the registration rules are city law and that the city has worked hard to get hosts and short-term rental companies up to speed. Furthermore, he added, the multiple dwelling law is old news.
“The rules governing short-term rentals, codified in both city and state law, have been clear for years,” he said in a written statement.
In a separate lawsuit, three Airbnb hosts claim that some of the personal information that’s required to register their properties — including the number of people living in their homes who are unrelated to them — amounts to a “warrantless administrative search of their private personal information,” which they suggest is prohibited by the Fourth Amendment.
One of the hosts named in the complaint, Rupi Arora, said she rents out part of her Forest Hills home to supplement her Social Security and pay for home repairs. She and the other hosts called on the city to make a distinction between illegal hotel operators and small hosts renting out parts of their homes.
“If Airbnb is stopped by the city, I will lose this revenue. I might have to go to the city to ask for money to help me pay my bills,” Arora said. “I'm not selling my house to move out. Where would I go? Which city would I go to? I came to this city and this is where I'm going to live till I die.”
Gia Briscoe, a musician, said that Airbnb has helped her and her husband stay afloat and hang on to their Brooklyn Heights brownstone, which has been in her family for generations.
“We were in support of some regulations,” she said. “All we asked was that they be fair and allow people like us to continue sharing our own home where we live.”
Tom Cayler, a supporter of Local Law 18 and chair of the illegal hotels committee at the West Side Neighborhood Alliance, said he was skeptical that the suits would stand up in court.
“This is the best [Airbnb’s] crack legal team could come up with?” he asked in an email to Gothamist.
Tagged
airbnb
buildings department
housing
tourism
eric adams
Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky
Jaclyn is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Christopher Werth
Christopher is a senior editor focusing on investigations. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 646-939-6511
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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