New York

NYC settles on Airbnb deal to slap hosts with fines instead of home-sharing company

New York City has settled a lawsuit with Airbnb that the company filed to stop a new state law that fines hosts who post illegal apartment listings as high as $7,500.

Under the terms of the deal announced late Friday, the city has agreed not to use the law to hit the company with fines, and instead only go after hosts who use the site to illegally rent out their apartments.


It's illegal to rent out your entire home in New York for less than 30 days, unless you live in a one or two family house.

The law specifically states that the fines will be levied on hosts, but Airbnb claimed it could be targeted under it.


"The City will enforce this and other existing laws against bad actors, and appreciates the additional enforcement powers this new tool provides to protect New Yorkers and visitors from unsafe conditions," a spokeswoman for the mayor, Melissa Grace, said in a statement.

Airbnb, in its statement, said that it will work with the city "to address New York City's permanent housing shortage."

That cooperation between the city and Airbnb — a first — could involve the company sharing its data with regulators to kick off illegal hotel operators.

Previously Airbnb had refused to hand over detailed data. Instead it would only make public anonymized data, citing privacy concerns for it's users.

Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, who sponsored the bill at the heart of the suit, said, "I expect the City will now get down to the important business of enforcing the law against the serial lawbreakers on the site who turn affordable housing into illegal hotels. This is a win for everyone."

The city is currently in the middle of the rules making process towards enforcing the law. It will begin issuing fines to law breakers when that process ends, possibly as early as the end of this month.