Under Cuomo's bill, per Bloomberg:
The fines for those who advertise vacant apartments in a multi-unit building for 30 days or less could be as high as $7,500 for repeat offenders, threatening the company’s operations in the state. People are allowed to rent out a room in their house or apartment as long as they are also staying there.
The new law would apply to buildings with three or more units.
Leading up to this, ABC News reported:
State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office conducted an investigation of Airbnb rentals from 2010 to 2014. It found that 72 percent of the units listed in New York City were illegal, and that 36 percent of rentals came from commercial operators who made up only 6 percent of hosts.
In any event, I wanted to mention this data that ValuePenguin, a personal finance website, released on which NYC neighborhoods would be hit hardest if and when the fines take effect, as DNAinfo reported.
According to ValuePenguin, the zip codes 10009 and 10003 have a combined 418 full apartments listed on Airbnb, which would/will violate the state's new law ... taking two of the top-five slots citywide...
Last night, Reuters reported that Airbnb Inc and New York state are in talks to resolve the lawsuit.
There are tenants in the building that are constantly using AirBNB to rent out their apartment - I hear t he suitcases make the slow climb so very often. How/Where do I report them? I really don't care for my management company and would love for them to get some fines for their mistreatment of tenants that don't break the law.
ReplyDeleteNo big surprise here. It's been obvious for years. Just watch the young travelers head out every morning from small buildings, bags rolling behind them as they wait for their Uber to the airport.
ReplyDeleteDitto 9:54's question. My next door neighbor rents out her apartment all the time. I can always tell because her apartment door is kind of broken. The airbnbers don't know the trick to getting it to close so they slam it sometimes 10 times in a row to get it to latch. SLAM SLAM SLAM SLAM etc. Also, I never wanted to live next door to a hotel room. It's already less friendly and less neighborly in my building than it used to be before most of the apartments became market rate and started to turn over every year. Adding in Airbnb and the constant parade of strangers with suitcases is really disheartening!
ReplyDeleteYou can report "illegal hotel" on 311. Just be sure that they are renting the whole place, and not just a room. Otherwise nothing can be done.
ReplyDeleteALL OF THE EAST VILLAGE IS AN ILLEGAL SUBLET...JUST SAYIN
ReplyDeleteStrangely worded article on valuepenguin. It is NOT the neighborhoods being potentially fined, it is the individuals who are breaking the law. And they calculated the potential fines based upon everyone being fined $7500, which is the amount for a third violation. If you are going to presume three violations, then you should include the amounts for the first and second violations, $500 and $1,000. But I would guess most renters are going to stop renting after the first or second violation...
ReplyDeleteThey should call it AirBnBedbug because those suitcases are bringing bedbugs to buildings that never had them before. All of a sudden we have bedbugs all over the building, and many tenants are renting out rooms with AirBnBedbug. My neighbor just spent thousands of dollars on heat treatment to get rid of their AirBnBedbugs. They had a crew using giant heaters and fans to raise the temperature to 140F for several hours, and the whole building turned into a sweat box. It cost a fortune but luckily the bedbugs are gone. Unfortunately the toursts and their suitcases are still coming in every day.
ReplyDeleteMy landlord has been cracking down, evicting one tenant and moving to do same on another. Just talk to your landlord.
ReplyDeleteWrong 11:12pm you can't rent out your room on an hourly or daily basis. That's renting it out to an illegal tenant by virtue of that person not being on the lease. An overnight guest, sure, but not someone paying you to stay at your place - that's a hotel room rental in a place not zoned to be a hotel.
ReplyDeleteTry to get someone to do something about that. It's up to the landlord. The tenant won't get fines for that.
DeleteMy building is a hostel these days. The visitors never seem to get the keys to work, so they ring all the buzzers, then go banging on the wrong doors. I don't know my neighbors any more and there's a constant stream of strangers going in and out. Can't trust anyone.
ReplyDeleteAnon. 1:04, the new law specifically says that you cannot rent out your uninhabited apartment for less than 30 days. If you are physically living in the apartment and want to rent out a room to AirBnBers, the law does not address that issue. I think that's what 11:12 meant.
ReplyDeleteGojira
ReplyDeleteYou can't rent out your room on an hourly or daily basis regardless of whether you use Air BNB. For one it's an illegal sublet since you're collecting money from renting a room to someone not on the lease and the money isn't going to the landlord - you're not allowed to make money off someone else's property and why should you when what upgrades, improvements, or repairs have you made on the place? Whoever staying there is a trespasser in the sense that it's an illegal rental and the person doesn't know you (you can fake it but cops will see right through that.) Two it's making a place not zoned as a hotel a hotel. If you rent your room to a nice, harmless girl for a night because she wants to get away from her psycho ex-boyfriend, but you don't know that, the ex finds out where she is, comes to your place, breaks in and beats the girl into a coma, you and possibly your landlord are liable for her assault as the girl's lawyer could show your Craigslist ad offering the room and saying it's "safe."
If I posted a Craigslist ad offering a bedroom in my apartment as a daily rental and showed it to my building management, they would think I'm crazy for showing them what I'm doing then send me a letter telling me not to rent the room and warning me not to attempt to rent it again.
Calm down, 7:45 AM, all I am saying is that the AirBnB law does not address the issue of someone who lives in an apartment renting out a room on a regular basis. As noted in Grieve's post: "Under Cuomo's bill, per Bloomberg...people are allowed to rent out a room in their house or apartment as long as they are also staying there." So.
ReplyDeleteCall 311 and report an apartment renter operating as an "illegal hotel". Housing Investigators will show up within a week. Keep calling back and following up with your case number.
ReplyDeleteYour landlord will quickly become tired of visits from cops.
11:12pm here.
ReplyDeleteYes Gojira, I was simply pointing out that airbnb hosts that remain in their unit while renting out a portion of their apartment will not be affected by the new law and/or fines. Thank you for understanding.
As far as it being against the rules, it's up to the landlord/management to do something about it since it's a lease violation, not a violation set by the state. Also, I don't think airbnb will be releasing the information of the room-renters if they are forced to share information at all.
You "calm down" Gojira. All I'm saying is you can't turn your apartment into an hourly or daily room rental hotel, and define "staying there"? I don't care about the Air BNB law, I'm merely mentioning the current laws re: room rentals. Re-read the part where I said "hourly and daily" room rentals. Of course one can rent a room out weekly or monthly from the thousands of New York Craigslist room rental ads. You cannot rent by the hour and what kind of room is that other than a brothel and/or drugs/gun deal room?
ReplyDeleteWho is renting out their rooms by the hour? Lol
ReplyDeleteFrom personal experience calling 311 or submitting a complaint via 311 online has not been very effective. I highly recommend submitting a complaint to HPD or directly to the Attorney General's office.
ReplyDeleteOn the balance I am not happy about the effects of the AirBNB economy on our neighborhood. I am most upset by HDFC shareholders who blight low-income housing stock for personal gain.