NYC Judge Delays Controversial AirBnb Enforcement Till Fall

NYC Judge Delays Controversial AirBnb Enforcement Till Fall

By:  Benyamin Davidsons

A New York City judge has delayed enforcement of the controversial Airbnb crackdown till September.

As reported by Crain’s NY, this summer New York City will not yet begin to impose the force of the new law for apartments used as hotels via postings on Airbnb and other short–term rental platforms.  Airbnb, along with a group of local hosts filed a law suit against the city on June 1st, taking a stand against the new law.  The rule would require all short-term rentals to register with the city, and will prevent short-term bookings platforms, including Airbnb, from processing payment for listings which are not registered with the city.

Other popular short-term booking platforms like such as VRBO, owned by Expedia Group, had removed almost all of their listings in advance of enforcement.  Airbnb, however, said it still has over 56,000 reservations where most of the hosts were not yet able to register with the city, just as their business has started to improve post-pandemic.   Per Crain’s, Enforcement was set to start on July 1st, but the group requested that it be delayed until a judge can rule on the case.  Roughly 5,500 vacation rentals, for some 10,000 guests, were reserved just in the first week of July, and were in jeopardy of being canceled due to the city’s enforcement of the registration requirement.

The city confirmed the delay. “Both parties agreed to a temporary stay of enforcement to afford them the opportunity to fully brief the issues before the court,” said Jonah Allon, deputy press secretary, in an email.

A representative for Airbnb commented as well.  “While we are happy on behalf of guests and hosts whose summer plans and rentals will no longer be ruined by these rules, we hope the City will use the extra time to collaborate with us on a sensible alternative solution that will benefit Hosts, tourism, and the local economy,” Airbnb’s attorney, Karen Dunn, said in a statement.  The group of plaintiffs, which includes Airbnb, claims in their suit that the new law places an unreasonable burden on its $85 million operation in the city.

Airbnb says the law is a “de facto ban of short term rentals.”  So far, as of May 31, there were just 419 applications submitted to the city’s Office of Special Enforcement– and of those only 29 had successfully gone through, as per the city.  There are over 5,000 Airbnb listings for private rental rooms which would seemingly check all the boxes for successful registration, according to Inside Airbnb, an independent website that tracks the platform.  Per Crain’s, Airbnb requested in the lawsuit that oral arguments be scheduled for the last week of July.  The city has agreed to delay enforcement of the law, so that enforcement to booking will only apply to bookings for dates after Sept. 5.