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Two-thirds of New York City Airbnb rentals flouting law: report
Listings break rule requiring permanent resident to be present at sublets of less than 30 days
An overwhelming chunk of New York City’s short-term rentals listings on the website Airbnb are against the law, according to an analysis by state authorities.
A total of 64 percent — or two-thirds — of the site’s nearly 20,000 listings in New York City were for an “entire apartment,” which puts the rentals at odds with a law that requires a “permanent resident” of such units to be present when the properties are sublet for fewer than 30 days, the New York Post reported. More than 200 of those offerings came from only five so-called “hosts,” offering further evidence that the parties were renting out a number of units on behalf of their owners.
“The top five hosts by number of listings had the following number of listings: 80, 35, 31, 29 and 28,” Sumanta Ray, director of research and analysis for the attorney general’s Investor Protection bureau, wrote in an affidavit cited by the Post.
The document is to be filed in court Monday, ahead of a Tuesday court date during which Airbnb plans to contest Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s subpoena for users’ personal data. [NYP] — Julie Strickland