Under the new restrictions, short-term renters will need to register with the city and must be present in the home for the duration of the rental

Home-sharing company Airbnb said it had to stop accepting some reservations in New York City after new regulations on short-term rentals went into effect.

The new rules are intended to effectively end a free-for-all in which landlords and residents have been renting out their apartments by the week or the night to tourists or others in the city for short stays. Advocates say the practice has driven a rise in demand for housing in already scarce neighbourhoods in the city.

Under the new system, rentals shorter than 30 days are only allowed if hosts register with the city. Hosts must also commit to being physically present in the home for the duration of the rental, sharing living quarters with their guest. More than two guests at a time are not allowed, either, meaning families are effectively barred.

    • krellor@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      89
      ·
      1 year ago

      They are trying to address housing shortages. The hotels might benefit, but so does everyone else because it effectively bars commercial operation of AirBnB. No landlords with 50 units etc.

      • SCB@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        This will not actually help with the housing shortage. It will even result in further evictions as some people lose the potential income of renting out excess space to get over the hump.

        • krellor@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          36
          ·
          1 year ago

          That is still allowed though. The host can rent out a spare room with up to 2 guests at a time. The host just has to live there.

          • SCB@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            1 year ago

            Under the new system, rentals shorter than 30 days are only allowed if hosts register with the city.

            • krellor@kbin.social
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              25
              ·
              1 year ago

              So they register? There isn’t anything to indicate that hosts who plan to rent out a spare room and follow the rules won’t be approved.

            • Concetta
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              18
              ·
              1 year ago

              Oh my god, you have to register with the city, like every other landlord? Crazy.

              • SCB@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                1 year ago

                Yes and this requires additional restrictions on the property that many people flat-out cannot afford.

                • Blackbeard@lemmy.worldM
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  14
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  Like what, exactly? If you can’t afford a fire alarm or sprinkler system, you really shouldn’t be running a rental business. Hell, if you can’t afford a fire alarm, you have much bigger problems than whether or not you can rent a room to a stranger.

                  • SCB@lemmy.world
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    2
                    ·
                    1 year ago

                    You aren’t running a rental business in these cases, but supplementing your income by allowing someone into your home a few times per year.

                • fenynro@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  13
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  If they can’t afford to sit on multiple empty houses due to increased AirBnB regulations, then they can always sell some of those assets back into the market. In fact, that’s the point of the regulation :P

                  The idea of some poor landlord barely scraping things together because their 50 rental properties (and thus millions of dollars worth of assets) are less profitable is preposterous

                  • SCB@lemmy.world
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    ·
                    edit-2
                    1 year ago

                    The idea is that a non-negligible amount of renters pad their rental income with AirBnB and are not actually landlords.

                • Concetta
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  5
                  ·
                  1 year ago

                  If you can afford to run a business you can afford to run a business properly.

                  • SCB@lemmy.world
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    ·
                    1 year ago

                    Not if onerous regulations designed to solve problems that don’t exist are placed in your way by populist idiot laws.

                    Theoretically, any business could be legislated out of existence maliciously.

      • joel_feila@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        Really to drop housing prices you have to address the secondary mortgage market. More supply is a band aid.

    • li10@feddit.uk
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      31
      ·
      1 year ago

      Yes, where they should be.

      If you’re travelling somewhere then stay in a hotel, it’s what they’re for.

    • girlfreddy@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      20
      ·
      1 year ago

      And why is that a bad thing?

      It’s the same as ride-sharing … which, when it started, was advertised as a cheaper alternative to taxis/cabs but that’s no longer the case.

      I use taxis instead od ride-share because taxis are regulated and they have to buy licenses. Does this make them better? Not really, but they are contributing to the local economy through the tax base … and that alone does make them better.