UPDATE: It was already illegal to rent a short-term stay for less than 30 days without the presence of the owner. Now the state legislature is looking to prevent advertising such listings. Curbed regrets the error.
The New York State Legislature has passed a bill that will prevent Airbnb users from advertising an entire apartment for rent for less than 30 days. Now it’s up to Governor Andrew Cuomo to sign the bill into law, but his office said it still needs to review the bill, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Airbnb has been clashing with the city’s hotel industry and elected officials right from the start, but a large data dump in December, and subsequent investigations intensified calls to curtail the service. State Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal introduced a bill last December that would prevent apartment owners from renting out their space for under 30 days without their presence. A violation of this law could lead to a fine of up to $7,500.
Rosenthal told the Verge that the bill is mostly targeted towards people with multiple listings, would increase safety for other tenants in the building, and would prevent landlords from arbitrarily increasing rents.
Airbnb was obviously not enthused. A representative for the company said state legislators were colluding with the hotel industry to get the bill passed.
"Let's be clear: this is a bad proposal that will make it harder for thousands of New Yorkers to pay the bills," Josh Meltzer, the head of New York Public Policy for Airbnb told Gothamist.
Loading comments...