PHeymont

In a well-publicized case last year, a NYC apartment resident was fined and threatened with eviction for violating laws banning short-term rentals of apartments in Class A buildings (the category for most apartment buildings) in the city. Now, another ruling has reversed the fines and clarified that such rentals are legal when the permanent residents don't vacate the apartment.

That covers many AirBnB situations where only a portion of the premises is rented out. In this case, the renter was away and rented out his room, but his co-tenant was at home. For obvious reasons, AirBnB helped with the appeal.

Here's the long (the Forbes link) and the short of it (NY Daily News)

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...icle-1.1470457

http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomioger...-term-rentals/

nytraveler

That may work in cases in which:'

1) the landlord allows rnters to sublet this way (most standard leases do NOT allow this
2) the building is not a co-op or condo - almost all of which ban this type of sublet (one may not sublet without approval of the subletters by the board - although one can have legitimate friends or family visit for short periods - but no cash changing hands)

So while the city law may be interpreted more recently - landlord or co-op/condo leases are not bound by these rules.

I have no idea how many apts this ruling may apply to - since the leases on apts can be much more stringent than city laws.

Ackislander

Brookline, MA, recently cracked down on an airbnb property because they did not have a lodging house license. Anyone in Brookline can rent out up to two rooms -- with no cooking facilities -- by right but must have a lodging house license For a third room. These licenses generally require a zoning variance, which would be difficult to get in most residential neighborhoods.

The Board of Selectmen are going to study the issue, which has a lot of ramifications because there are many abnb rentals in Brookline.

The "raid" was the result of resident complaints after they saw many strangers rolling suitcases through the neighborhood. Parking in Brookline is not an issue since there is no overnight parking on the streets of Brookline, even for residents.

scrb11

NY has served a subpoena to airbnb, to see which NY apts are being rented for vacationers.

Supposedly, the NYC law prohibiting vacation rentals only came into being in 2010?

I've stayed in vacation apts in NY years ago.

One would suspect that the big companies which own hotels had a big part in the law.

Of course hotel rates have been rising every year in NYC.

Ackislander

We don't particularly need to go around this issue again, but we don't need conspiracy theories, either.

Airbnb benefits travelers who are willing to take a risk, and it benefits apartment owners and renters who can lay off part of the high costs of tenancy or ownership on short term renters as long as they are willing to take on the risk.

Airbnb is negative for the neighbors, for licensing, zoning and taxing authorities, and for the board of health.

This will all settle out over the next couple of years the way a lot of other Internet-based phenomena settled out.