More Bad News for Airbnb

Another loss for Airbnb, a win for affordable housing, unionized hotel employees, neighborhood safety and more: as per Gothamist, a bill introduced in December has finally passed through state legislature.

It is now officially verboten to advertise the rental of a whole apartment for a stay of less than 30 days. How is this different than previous rulings against Airbnb? Was it not already illegal to rent your entire apartment out like that, hence all of the grey areas about Airbnb’s legality? Yes indeed – now, it is also illegal to even advertise thusly.

Important to note, however, that this does not preclude usage of Airbnb such as renting out a room in an apartment for a short length of time while the leaseholder/resident remains present; that sort of behavior does not destabilize housing prices in neighborhoods or exacerbate the already critical housing supply.

All in all, a good ruling: good for hotels, good for renters…not great for Airbnb, but ensures its proper usage.