NEW YORK: Fallout from a case in which AirBnB activities have been deemed ‘illegal’ in New York is being felt around the world, driving hosts to re-read their city’s bylaws, tourists to look for alternative accommodations and other short-term rental services throwing their support behind the company.
It’s a story that’s being felt among hosts across 30,000 cities and which may have implications for fellow home-rental services likewise located in New York and other cities with similar laws.
The case of Nigel Warren serves as a cautionary tale to hosts who put their apartments up for rent to make some side money while they’re on vacation — many of whom fail to read the fine print and brush up on rental laws before subletting their place to strangers.
Warren has been fined $2,400 for renting out his apartment as an AirBnB host. The law in New York bans the renting out of homes, apartments or rooms for less than 30 days in the absence of the owner. The law was put into place to prevent landlords from turning their property into hotels and skirting zoning and safety laws.
Similarly, tourists who were considering booking an apartment with AirBnB to sidestep exorbitant hotel costs and stay in an authentic New York apartment may have to return to traditional accommodations if they want to avoid any trouble.
For their part, AirBnB has dug in their heels vowing to fight the ruling, saying in a statement, “We are not going anywhere.”
Meanwhile, companies like AirBnB, HomeAway, TripAdvisor and FlipKey have banded together to fight restrictive regulations with the Short Term Rental Advocacy Center, under the tenet that short-term rentals offer unique travel experiences and increase revenue in local communities.
While short-term rental is for the most part illegal in San Francisco, for example, the city is working with AirBnB to regulate the practice, says travel site Skift.
Since launching in 2008 out of San Francisco, AirBnB has expanded to 192 countries with 300,000 listings worldwide and 10 million nights booked. HomeAway also counts 742,000 listings across 171 countries.
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