Judge To Airbnb: Sorry, You Do Indeed Have To Pre-Register Short-Term Rentals In NYC
Airbnb claims that complying with a law that will mandate it to register short-term rentals (under 30 days) will eviscerate 95 percent of its business in NYC. In a decision tossing out the complaint, New York State Supreme Court Judge Arlene P. Bluth called that “entirely speculative.” She instead noted the vast amount of illegal short-term rentals under Airbnb–and the problems that come along with them–that the city has identified and hopes to root out with the recent regulations.
| 10 Aug 2023 | 02:20
Airbnb’s San Francisco HQ in 2018. Now, the company claims its New York market will collapse if it has to follow new registration regulations from the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement–an argument that a judge found to be “entirely speculative” on August 8. (
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A New York County State Supreme Court judge has dismissed Airbnb’s attempt to contest a recent law that has mandated it to register short-term rentals before advertising them. The company claimed that the regulations are so onerous that they will wipe out 95 percent of their business in NYC, a claim that Judge Arlene P. Bluth pointedly called “entirely speculative” in her decision tossing the complaint.
Essentially, Airbnb is frustrated that Local Law 18–enacted in 2022 and set to begin enforcement in September–will require them to preregister rentals that are under 30 days with the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement (OCE). This will result in what the company claims are “onerous tasks” that include receiving formal confirmation numbers, “tracking” registration expiration dates, and making “changes to host information.” Under the law, Airbnb will be hit with levies of up to $1,500 or “three times the fee collected” for each “improper transaction.” This led them to petition the court and cite the supposedly devastating business effects that Judge Bluth dismissed.
Instead, she is sympathetic to the city pointing out that “they have received many, many complaints about these illegal short-term rentals.” To hammer her point home, she notes that OCE head Christian J. Klossner has estimated that “55 percent of Airbnb’s revenue comes from illegal short-term rentals” and that “there were 43,000 illegal short-term listings from Airbnb alone in 2018.”
Judge Bluth wrote that precedent stretching back to 1970 indicated that the regulations and their enforcement were well within the rights of (and scope of expertise for) the OCE.
For example, she agrees that the regulations are not a capricious abuse of power, but are necessary to combat “quality-of-life” abuses and prevent renting out short-term Airbnbs in, say, public housing or rent-regulated units.
Summarizing her decision, Bluth neatly lays out why the city has what she says is a compelling argument: “As the regulations relate to Airbnb, they give Airbnb a very simple way to make sure it is no longer facilitating – and making money from – unlawful activity. All Airbnb has to do is properly verify potential listings.”
“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, Airbnb’s Global Policy Director, proclaimed in a statement provided to Straus News.
Whether or not that’s a fair assumption to make will be more evident as the September 5 deadline for registration approaches.