This summer was supposed to mark a major turning point for New York City’s market for Airbnb and other short-term rental sites. But now, hosts and lodgers can expect little change until the end of the peak tourist season.
A new law that requires hosts to register with the city will effectively eliminate thousands of vacation rentals for entire apartments on Airbnb, one of the largest rental platforms, but also on sites such as VRBO and Booking.com. Rentals for entire homes and apartments for less than 30 days are already illegal under New York state’s multiple dwelling law.
Proponents of the change argue that short-term rentals are worsening the city’s lack of affordable housing by reducing the number of apartments on the full-time rental market. But the agency charged with enforcing the new rule has twice-delayed its full implementation in recent months, and lawmakers are concerned that the agency’s current staff vacancy rate of over 50% is hindering its ability to enforce the law.
“They’re missing half the team, and they really need full capacity to get this done,” said Councilmember Carlina Rivera, who co-sponsored the law that passed last year. “There are over 10,000 illegal short-term rentals in operation in NYC in the midst of a perpetual housing crisis, which is unacceptable.”
Enforcement of the new rules, originally scheduled to begin on May 9, will now start on Sept. 5, after initially being postponed to July 1.
Entire homes and apartments available to rent for less than 30 days make up more than a quarter of the roughly 43,000 Airbnb listings in New York City, according to data provided by Inside Airbnb, which is not affiliated with the company. It advocates for tougher rules on short-term rentals and extracts data from Airbnb’s website on a quarterly basis. But only 7,000 of those properties are booked regularly.
Under the new law, New Yorkers who want to rent their homes on Airbnb and other platforms must apply for a registration with the…
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