Airbnb and New York City have a long and disputatious story . On the one hand , Airbnbwants everything to be hunky dory in its grown mart . On the other , New York City ’s stringent short - term rental laws efficaciously make many Airbnbs rental illegal in the city . New Yorkers are alsocaught up in the mix — affordable housing is hard enough to find as it is and some occupant are unhappy with the revolving room access of unknown coming in and out of apartments .
Back in February , the urban center subpoenaed Airbnb for the non - anonymized data of more than 17,000 listings . At the time , Mayor Bill de Blasio explained it was a measure to force Airbnb to provide transparency and prevent mass from abusing the rental program . “ We want to see their listings , ” he say onlocal news station NY1 . “ We want to see which apartments are being charter out . We require to know what ’s really going on . We need to know there ’s not illegal hotel . We need to make certain that something that ’s supposed to be an occasional business is not a full - fourth dimension business . ”
Last calendar week , Airbnb came to anagreementwith the city about how to share that datum without entirely throwing seclusion out the window . ( The understanding was first account byWired . ) Airbnb has agreed to share the datum in two phases . First , Airbnb will give the city anonymized data point for more than 17,000 listings between January 1 , 2018 , and February 18 , 2019 . These involve listings that were listed as “ entire units ” , “ private rooms ” and “ divvy up rooms ” with a maximum guest occupation of three or more , for a stay sum less than 30 consecutive days . The manner the city ’s short - term lease laws go , it ’s illegal to lease out an total flat unless it ’s to a maximum of two guests , while the owner is present . New Yorkcracked down even furtherback in 2016 with a law that prevents advertising rentals that violate the existing law . Recently , it ’s also withdraw to raid offender bothbigandsmall .
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Once receive the information , the Mayor ’s Office of Special Enforcement ( OSE ) can then request de - anonymized data for specific list that are probable to be illegal . In that event , the OSE would receive identifying information like addresses , full days booked , payout information , email , and phone bit .
Beyond the effect it could have on master of ceremonies in NYC , the agreement is significant in that it could take to a ripple issue in other city that have started cracking down on Airbnb . Cities likeParis , Barcelona , andSanta Monicahave tough restriction on Airbnb rentals . San Franciscohas take up a standardised policy to New York , whileLas Vegashas slapped Airbnb with some strict regulations to protect its hotel manufacture . In Japan , nearly80 per centum of Airbnbswere axe last summertime in response to new regulations . It ’s possible that local governments in these areas might take a gander at the NYC agreement and make up one’s mind they ’d like the same arrangement .
That could have some positive effects — mainly deterringillegal hotelswhile allowing regulatory breathing way for your ordinary Joe who earns a few extra horse off of an empty way . Ideally .
“ We have long said that we desire to work with the City on an in effect regulative model and we recognise data sharing is an significant part of that , ” an Airbnb spokesperson severalize Gizmodo over email . “ We hope that our conformity with this subpoena ad testificandum — by providing data in cable with our shared enforcement antecedence against illegal hotel operators — is a first footfall toward notice such a solution that is coherent with Airbnb ’s legal rights and obligations , and allows us to share the variety of actionable datum with the degree of precision that the City needs . ”
In the lag , it ’s probably to double or three-fold check that the Airbnb you ’re persist in is effectual . And if all else fails , you could intrigue to gain the drawing and rest at that flat - stylus hotel Airbnb isopening in Rockefeller Plaza . Though , at that stop , just get a hotel room .
AirbnbNew York CityRentals
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