City Council gives $2 million towards efforts aimed at Airbnb
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson (D-Manhattan) has called for giving $2 million more to the Office of Special Enforcement, which enforces rules that ban transient occupancy, according to The Real Deal.
State law generally requires that a permanent resident of a house or apartment stay on site when paying guests are there for less than 30 days, and the state passed a law in 2015 banning ads for arrangements, including many Airbnb venues, which violate this rule. City Hall filed a lawsuit against Airbnb on Monday after the company refused to comply with a subpoena for records of short-term rentals at an address on West 15th Street in Manhattan, The Real Deal reported.
A statement from Airbnb criticized “Big Hotels” for the anti-Airbnb effort, saying that many “responsible New Yorkers” are sharing their homes “to make ends meet.”