New York City Council passes bill requiring Airbnb to share host data

The New York City council has voted to require Airbnb and other short-term rental platforms to give the city information on hosts providing short-term rentals through those companies.

The new law will make it much easier for the city to find out who’s offering short-term vacation rentals — and whether or not they’re following the law. Mayor Bill de Blasio is expected to sign the ordinance.

The law requires Airbnb and other online rental platforms such as HomeAway and VRBO to provide data on hosts to the city’s Office of Special Enforcement every month. This information will include the name, address, phone number, email, and profile URL of active hosts. Online platforms will also be required to report on the total number of days the property was rented, fees that were paid, and whether hosts are renting out a whole home or just part of one.

Failure to comply with the law could result in fines of $1,500 per listing for the online platform.

Under the New York State multiple dwelling law, apartments in buildings with more than three units can only be used for “permanent resident purposes.” Short-term rentals are only allowed in most buildings if the permanent tenant lives in the apartment while guests are staying there.

In addition to making it easier to detect illegal rentals, the new ordinance could make it easier for the city to find out whether short-term rental hosts are living up to their lodging tax obligations.

While Airbnb collects lodging taxes from guests on behalf of its short-term rental hosts in several counties in New York State, it does not collect for hosts in New York City, and neither do other online rental platforms. New York City hosts are responsible for collecting lodging taxes from guests on their own as well as remitting those taxes with the proper agency. MyLodgeTax can help New York City short-term rental hosts take care of all their lodging tax obligations.

Short-term rentals in New York City are subject to a New York City Hotel Room Occupancy Tax, which is collected by the city, while New York State collects state sales tax, New York city sales tax, and a Hotel Unit Fee of $1.50 per day on short-term rentals.

The new rules come as short-term rentals have proliferated and New York City officials and residents question their effect on the city.

A report from the city comptroller’s office earlier this year found that Airbnb is adding to the city’s affordable housing crisis, particularly in crowded or gentrifying neighborhoods such as Bedford-Stuyvesant, Chelsea, Greenpoint, and Midtown. Long-term renters paid an additional $616 million in 2016 because of Airbnb, the report said.

City officials are especially looking to target landlords operating a number of properties as commercial ventures.  A report from the School of Urban Planning at McGill University found that nearly half of the New York City rental revenue on Airbnb was earned by 10 percent of the hosts in the city.

Shortly before the bill was passed, Airbnb announced that it was financing a lawsuit against the city by Sunset Park resident and host Stanley Karol. Karol rents out his home on Airbnb and said city investigators targeted him after he spoke out at a City Council meeting about his opposition to Airbnb legislation. The city imposed fines on Karol for violating short-term rental codes that could total more than $30,000.