Airbnb's attempt to lobby Albany last week to change New York's tricky short term rental laws may have been utterly futile. Nigel Warren charged $100/night for a Russian visitor's three-day stay in his room in an East Village apartment earlier this month, and now a judge has slapped his landlord with a $2,400 fine for illegal hotel operations that Warren must pay. Despite Airbnb's protests on Warren's behalf, the judge's verdict hinges on the distinction between renting to "occupants who share the life of the dwelling with its permanent occupants" and "complete strangers who have no, and are not intended to have any, relationship with the permanent occupant." Guess it's time to pay up. [Gothamist; previously]
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