Airbnb Sues New York City Over ‘De Facto Ban’ on Short-Term Rentals

Airbnb Inc on Thursday filed a lawsuit towards New York City over a brand new legislation it referred to as a “de facto ban” against short-term rentals set to go into effect in July, which the company says will limit the number of people who can host rentals in the city.

City councils around the United States are increasingly introducing ordinances to regulate short-term rentals, which in some cases will require hosts to obtain licenses and pay registration fees or limit the number of short-term rentals in business districts.

The company’s filing in the New York State Supreme Court says New York’s city council, through legislation passed in 2022, effectively implemented “its most extreme and oppressive regulatory scheme yet, which operates as a de facto ban against short-term rentals in New York.”

Airbnb, in a letter to hosts, said “today’s filing comes only after exhausting all available paths for a sensible solution with the City.”

The legislation, based on the submitting, will make it tougher for hosts to do enterprise, requiring them to register with the New York City Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement (OSE) and to certify that they’ll adjust to ”the maze of complicated laws” for zoning, a number of dwelling legislation and housing upkeep code in addition to building code.

OSE utility critiques will guarantee “that only a miniscule number of hosts will ever be granted a registration,” Airbnb mentioned within the submitting.

The OSE didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

Airbnb mentioned that beginning within the first week of July, greater than 5,500 short-term leases are booked to host greater than 10,000 company in New York City.

The firm mentioned within the submitting a earlier legislation which went into impact in 2021 prompted 29,000 hosts to depart the short-term rental market in New York. Airbnb’s annual web income in New York City in 2022 was $85 million, based on the filling.

(This story has not been edited by News18 workers and is printed from a syndicated news company feed – Reuters)