New regulations on short-term rentals went into effect on Tuesday, which will result in significant changes for travelers hoping to avoid the high cost of a Big Apple hotel.
According to home-sharing giant Airbnb, it has been forced to stop accepting some reservations in New York City.
The new regulations are meant to put an end to the practice of city residents and landlords renting out their apartments to tourists or other short-term visitors by the week or by the night.
Rentals of less than 30 days are no longer permitted under the new system unless hosts register with the city.
For the duration of the rental, hosts are required to make a commitment to staying in the house and cohabiting with their visitors.
Families are effectively prohibited, as there is a limit of two guests per party.
Platforms like Airbnb, VRBO, and others are prohibited from processing rentals for hosts who have not registered, and as of this week’s first day, very few had done so.
Just under 300 of the more than 3,800 applications received, according to the city, have been approved.
The restrictions were pushed for by officials and housing advocates, who claimed that they were essential to prevent apartments from turning into de facto hotels.
According to Murray Cox of Inside Airbnb, a housing advocacy group that compiles information about the company’s presence in cities all over the world, “residential apartments in New York City should be for residential use.”
In court, Airbnb fought the regulations, claiming they were essentially a ban and that they would harm travelers looking for inexpensive lodging.
However, as of August 21, the company, which had 38,500 active non-hotel listings in New York City as of January, claimed it had stopped accepting new short-term bookings from any host who hadn’t provided a city registration number or proof that it was in the works.
No short-term listing would be permitted on its website without a registration number once the city’s verification system was fully operational, it stated.
Smaller home hosts claimed they were unfairly singled out and grouped with larger apartment complexes.
The city passed the rules in January of last year, but they weren’t implemented until last month due to legal challenges.
While giving tourists more options in New York and providing residents who rented out their homes while away on vacation with a financial windfall, online rental listing services have also given rise to complaints about tourists snatching up the limited housing in residential neighborhoods.
Frequently occurring parties in rented units and buildings that suddenly felt like hotels were complaints from regular tenants. Investors bought entire townhouses or apartments in condominium buildings, then made a killing with illegal nightly rentals.
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