BY JACKSON CHEN | Airbnb, the popular homesharing company, recently settled its lawsuit against a new state law that imposes fines for those who advertise illegal listings of short-term residential rentals.
New York State already had prohibited the rental of an unoccupied apartment for periods of less than 30 days. But Governor Andrew Cuomo, on October 21, signed a bill into law that furthers those restrictions by fining those advertising such rentals up to $7,500. Chief among those targeted by the new law are people renting out their apartments through Airbnb as well as landlords offering short-term stays in vacant apartments.
Later that day, Airbnb filed a lawsuit against Eric Schneiderman, the state’s attorney general, the City of New York, and Mayor Bill de Blasio, for what they charged were violations of the First Amendment and the Communications Decency Act, which frees website operators from liability for what users post on their sites.
The lawsuit was dropped by Airbnb on December 2 after a settlement agreement that detailed that the enforcement efforts would target the hosts who operate illegal hotels –– both landlords and individual tenants –– and not the company hosting the listings website.
“We very much see this as a material step forward for our hosts, with Airbnb and the city agreeing to ‘work cooperatively on ways to address New York City’s permanent housing shortage,’” Airbnb spokesperson Peter Schottenfels said in a written statement. “We look forward to using this as a basis to finding an approach that protects responsible New Yorkers while cracking down on illegal hotels that remove permanent housing off the market or create unsafe spaces.”
Schottenfels noted that Airbnb’s “One Host, One Home,” implemented last month, restricts permissible hosts in the city to those renting only one home, a limitation he said would help address New York’s housing shortage.
Renting out your home for a short period of time without being in residence runs afoul of state law, and it’s unclear how much that conduct will become an object of enforcement.
Upper West Side Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal, the sponsor of the new law, said it was specifically framed to punish those who frequently abuse through multiple listings and short-term rental of their unoccupied apartments and not the website itself.
“We crafted the bill so that Airbnb would not be the target, we knew that,” Rosenthal said. “We weren’t going to try to slip something in against federal law, but I think [Airbnb] decided they were going to sue and was forced to make good on their promise.”
As she has done in the past, the assemblymember once again encouraged Airbnb to better police its listings for illegal rentals and proposed hiring a monitor to sweep the site on a daily basis. In the last year, Airbnb said it has removed more than 3,400 listings from its site that appeared to have been posted by hosts with multiple listings.
“However they frame it, we take it as a great victory for affordable housing and following the law,” Rosenthal said.
Before the new law is implemented, the city will hold a public hearing on enforcement, scheduled for December 19.
