Airbnb program gives multifamily landlords a share in tenants’ revenue

Airbnb is promoting its new venture that allows landlords to share the revenue with tenants who make their units available for short-term rentals.

The program provides landlords, in exchange for their permission to list their units on Airbnb, with up to a quarter of the revenue from a tenant’s short-term rental in a multifamily property, Skift reported. The site, free of charge, steers clients to buildings that are “Airbnb-friendly,” according to Skift.

So far, about 260 buildings — making up about 100,000 apartments — in 40 U.S. markets are enrolled in the program, the outlet said. That’s just a fraction of the 6 million Airbnb listings worldwide.

The program legitimizes a common practice where tenants circumvented their leases by offering their units as short-term rentals to make some extra cash while out of town.

“There are roughly 45 million rentals in the U.S., and the vast majority of those rentals do not allow part-time hosting on Airbnb,” Jesse Stein, the platform’s global head of real estate, told The Real Deal. “We wanted to create a program where the individuals that rent have the same economic benefits as the individuals that host their homes on Airbnb. …

“It’s a win-win for all stakeholders.”

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So far the program is more popular with multifamily owners with new buildings, while old buildings may have restrictive covenants on subleasing, the outlet said.

The program won’t be a hit in certain areas like New York City.

Indeed, the short-term rental company filed two lawsuits against the city on June 1, Crain’s reported. One listed the company as a plaintiff and the other was filed on behalf of three local hosts. Both are seeking an injunction against Local Law 18, which requires hosts using Airbnb and other home-sharing sites to register their rentals with the city. 

The goal of the law is to track short-term rentals in the city and prevent owners from renting out more than one unit at a time.

State law already forbids renting out a unit for fewer than 30 days unless the full-time resident is present, but that law has proven difficult to enforce.

“Airbnb will have to cancel thousands of registrations,” company attorney Karen Dunn told Crain’s. “New York City will be the Grinch who stole summer.”

Still, Stein told Skift that Airbnb is “in a good place globally for regulation, and New York City is one of the outliers.”

— Ted Glanzer