If early indicators are anything to go by, short-term apartment rentals under the law are about to disappear in New York City. That is, thousands upon thousands of people could continue to rent in defiance of a new registration requirement, reopening burning questions about how to regulate a gray market that is as large as those now hanging in a giant cloud of smoke over cannabis sales.
Low a new city law, all hosts who wish to rent part of their apartments for less than 30 days must notify the city; tenants or apartment owners who are not on the premises when the tenants are there are not eligible to register, because what they are doing is against state statutes.
Since registration launched on March 6, only 92 (count ’em) hosts have legally applied to rent. Compare that paltry total to the more than 1,000 city apartments still listed on Airbnb when we look Monday — many of them not for private rooms in an occupied apartment, which is possibly legal, but for entire apartments, which is not.
Faced with a massive refusal to play ball, the city will be back where it started: having to determine who to crack down on. We repeat what we’ve said from the beginning: leave alone the common folks trying to earn a few extra bucks when they go out of town for a few weeks a year. Go after those who create de facto illegal hotel rooms.
And while very few hosts comply with the registration requirement, another part of the new local law is gaining traction: a “no-buildings” list where building owners can alert the city that short-term rentals are expressly prohibited. prohibited. To date, 3,773 have joined the list.
This raises another big question. Short-term rental of an entire apartment in a building where the owner has not requested to be on the prohibited building list is just as illegal as one in a building where the owner has chosen to be on the prohibited building list. Will only the latter bear the brunt of the application?
