The soaring prices of flats for rent to locals and the nuisance caused by the comings and goings of flat booking website hosts are affecting every major metropolis in the world. Some cities are now imposing restrictions. After Amsterdam, New York has now introduced one of the most restrictive laws to break the Airbnb model in the Hudson metropolis.
The city's legislators have adopted a law aimed at registering and controlling short-term rentals from 2022.such as those offered by the giant Airbnb. Following a multitude of lawsuits launched by online booking platforms and certain owners, the application of this law was delayed. But it came into force on 5 September after the complaints were rejected at the end of August.
A law that is decimating short-term rentals of entire flats
So, according to the law, it is now " illegal for a person who owns, manages, occupies or otherwise controls a dwelling to offer, manage or administer the short-term letting of that dwellingunless the accommodation is registered in accordance with and has been issued with a unique Short-Term Tenancy Registration number and that registration is current." .
The law specifies that " no short-term rental registrations will be accepted unless the applicant is an individual who is a permanent occupier of the property. This is either the owner of the property, or a tenant who can prove that they have permission to "sublet". In addition, the property may only accommodate two hosts at the same time.
For travellers, this means the unique possibility of reserving a room or part of a flat to share with the person in question living there permanently. However, in New York, the majority of Airbnb rentals were of fully self-contained flats.
(Screenshot Inside Airbnb)
New York, capital of shared-rental flats
The website Inside Airbnb provides interesting information on the impact of the online accommodation rental company. Inside Airbnb is in fact a private project that provides data on the impact of Airbnb on residential communities. Its aim is to provide communities with information that will enable them to take better control of visitor rentals in their neighbourhoods.
According to Inside Airbnb, New York currently has 43,566 rental units. On this figure, 56.5% are flats or complete dwellings24,649 units. Just over 51% of these units are recorded as "short-term rentals". ("short-term rental"). In New York City, this corresponds to a rental of less than 30 days. 40.3% of rentals offered were by multiple owners - individuals or companies according to Inside Airbnb. For example, short-term flat rental agency Blueground has 569 units.
A large proportion of Airbnbs accommodation is concentrated in central Manhattan, along the Upper East Side, as well as in Williamsburg and Park Slope in Brooklyn. They are driving up the scarcity of flats for local residents. And so prices are rising.
The New York law also prohibits the conversion of buildings into short-term rental residences. Some 9,000 buildings in New York are now affected.
(Screenshot Airbnb)
Airbnb complies with new rules
The consequence is already visible. On the Airbnb website, the company now specifies the rules for renting in New York. It states that the easiest thing to do is to switch the flat to a long-term rental, which in fact corresponds to a traditional rental.
However, "if [the resident or flat owner] cannot register or offer long-term stays, here's what you need to know:
- Since 14 August, without a registration number or exemption from Class B status, Airbnb has been blocking calendars to prevent new bookings for short-term stays.
- 5 September, adverts without a registration number or exemption request will be modified to accept only long-term stays (if the host's calendar settings allow stays of 30 nights or more) or disabled.
- To ensure a smooth transition for guests and travellers, existing bookings arriving no later than 1 December will not be cancelled. To comply with short-term rental regulations, we will refund all Airbnb charges associated with these stays after arrival.
- Existing short-stay bookings with an arrival date on or after 2 December will be cancelled and refunded.
- Airbnb accepts all cancellations of stays scheduled to arrive on or after 5 September requested by hosts, without penalty or impact on Superhost status.
