washingtonexaminer.com

NYC short-term rental restrictions go into effect, threatening thousands of Airbnb listings

Eden Villalovas 3–4 minutes

September 06, 2023 12:55 PM

New regulations requiring hosts to register their property with New York City in order to provide short-term leases went into effect on Tuesday after a lengthy battle between Airbnb and the city.

A new law, pushed by the city in 2021, aimed to block illegal short-term rentals by requiring hosts to register with the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement. Rentals less than 30 days will be affected, threatening listings on platforms like Vrbo and Airbnb. Short-term rental hosts sued the city to prevent the regulations under Local Law 18 from taking place. The New York Supreme Court delayed the provisions to start Sept. 5 but dismissed the lawsuit in early August.

Airbnb has called the rules a “de facto ban” on short-term rentals and said it will damage the city’s tourism economy. New York City has more than 40,000 Airbnb listings, and Airbnb claims the law will remove thousands of listings from the platforms. Airbnb has also said the law will affect more than 80,000 guests who have booked stays starting on or after Sept. 5.

“The city is sending a clear message to millions of potential visitors who will now have fewer accommodation options when they visit New York City: you are not welcome," Theo Yedinsky, the global policy director for Airbnb, said in a statement sent to the Washington Examiner last month.

City officials claimed that in 2022, as many as 10,000 short-term rentals listed on Airbnb were illegal, amounting to $85 million in net revenue, but the company has disputed the figures.

New York City also included a change to how many guests can board at a time, asserting no more than two guests are allowed to stay at a time and proposed a fine of $5,000 if violated. The company pushed back on the regulation and was joined by groups such as Restore Homeowner Autonomy and Rights to call for new regulations.

"Rentals less than 30 days will be affected, threatening listings on platforms like Vrbo and Airbnb"

Welcome to the rise in popularity of the 31 day rental listing with free early cancelation and full refunds for unused days.

That's the problem with bureaucrats: they underestimate the fast-thinking and creativity of entrepreneurs. This ordinance will take folks a few hours to figure out ways to get around it, even if they don't do the idea I mentioned above. It will be similar to speakeasies in the 1920s... there will be a "code" of some kind used to alert folks to what they're wanting, and when they use that, the hosts will understand and provide it. Or, they'll simply go underground with off-market deals through some kind of illicit brokers or what have you.

Prohibition doesn't work. We tried that and it failed miserably with alcohol. We're trying it right now with drugs and that's a joke. If the market wants X, the market will get X.

People have a right to do what they want with their property, as long as it doesn't harm someone else directly. In this case, no one is really harmed directly: hotels are simply losing to the competition, but rather than find better ways to draw in customers, they run to the law makers to try to keep ahold of their monopoly. It won't work.

It's funny in a way. Hundreds of years ago before mega hotel chains, your average accommodation in a town was often a farmer's barn or a wealthy person's house where they'd rent rooms to travelers. Seems like we're just shifted back that way, because most people like a "home" to be in when they travel and are staying for more than a couple of days. They want a kitchen, a living room, and maybe a nice private pool that isn't filled with loud, drunk parents who let their kids rum amok.

"People have a right to do what they want with their property, as long as it doesn't harm someone else directly." Zoning laws disagree. Even the most ardent conservatives here defend it.

David,I am the ardent conservative who believes in zoning laws.I live in a single family neighborhood zoned single family and i live here for a reason,i want the stability of knowing whoever lives near me has an interest in the neighborhood staying in good shape and isnt renting it to whoever shows up for 2 or 3 days to party,if that happened next door to me i am not sure what i would do,i would be nice once then the owner would wish he never bought the property to rent it short term.

I live next door to a assisted living facility and a dense townhouse development. Try again

I chose to live there the same way you choose to buy a certain type of gun or capacity magazine because government regulation makes it so. It's laughable to say something isn't shoved down your throat when the government limits your choice.

And so it is now, that wanting private property rights respected and eliminating governments heavy hand in what can be built is not conservative small government, but liberal.

Organizing communities isn’t big government or BAD government if done properly. Telling landlords that they can’t raise rents when or how they want IS big and bad government.

Telling a landlord that he can’t discriminate based on race or religion isn’t big or bad government, that’s common sense IF THEY QUALIFY. (although a landlord should be able to) However, good business sense handles that WITHOUT fair housing rules.

Telling landlords that they can’t evict for 2-3 years because of the scamdemic is big and BAD and atrocious over reach government. Limiting gun purchases to violent felons isn’t big government or bad government, that’s proper governing. Creating stupid laws that create MORE felons (bump stock bans, etc) is big and bad government.

Here David, this is how you become a fan of zoning real quick. Trust me when I say this, you don’t want a guy like me having free reign of building whatever I want wherever I want to. I already skirt rules when I can and I will stick stuff anywhere I can if it makes money.

If you have a primary residence worth $500,000 house in a community with no zoning, I will absolutely buy the foreclosure next door to you and bust it up into 8 units that cash flows if I can’t make the numbers work as a straight up flip.

Ah yes, I see. It just boils down to government telling people what you do is okay IF you agree with it.

It's none of my business and doesn't affect me what my neighbor builds on his property, strip club, McDonald's, 8unit apt. That's what private property rights used to mean, until the supreme Court gutted it 100years ago.