by Rocio Fabbro published on themessenger.com
The booking platform has called the new rules 'a de facto ban on short-term rentals'
Airbnb is bracing for trouble as New York City prepares to begin enforcing new rules on short term rentals on Sept. 5.
Once dotted with scores of pricey rentals, Airbnb’s map of Manhattan is sparsely populated with just a handful of listings for the month of September as hosts rush to take down listings as the city’s crackdown looms, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The new rules, which took effect in March and require short-term rental hosts to register with the city, are “a de facto ban on short-term rentals,” Airbnb claims. Booking platforms, including Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com, as well as the hosts themselves, will face penalties over unregistered listings, the city said.
“These restrictions are punitive and burdensome,” Airbnb wrote in a June email to its hosts in the city, citing one particular rule which prohibits hosts to have internal locks on bedroom doors. “Many of you have also expressed frustration with the complicated registration system which makes it nearly impossible for Hosts to register with and be approved by the City,” it added.
As of December 2022, there were more than 40,000 active listings on Airbnb for New York City.
Airbnb and three New York City-based hosts filed separate lawsuits against the city in the Supreme Court of the State of New York on June 1 challenging the new rules. Airbnb argued in its filing that the law will drastically reduce the number of listings in the city and that the information the city requires from hosts violates their Fourth Amendment rights.
A New York judge struck down the lawsuits on Aug. 9, saying the new rules are “entirely rational.”
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