

Airbnb’s growing pains: half of its NYC listings are illegal rentals - danso
http://skift.com/2013/01/07/airbnbs-growing-pains-mirrored-in-new-york-city-where-half-its-listings-are-illegal-rentals/

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freehunter
>We want to avoid becoming legal advisors who are required to know the law in
every market we operate.

Uh, sorry. I like Airbnb, and I like to support startups, but trying to make
the claim that you should't have to know the law in every market you operate
in just doesn't fly. If you don't know the laws in a market, don't operate in
that market until you do. Hire people who know the law. Bring on lawyers from
different regions. Have even just one person whose job is to research the laws
in the markets you're moving into.

I don't want to have to know the speed limits of every road I drive on, but if
I don't pay attention to the signs (or the highway code for unmarked roads),
you better believe the officer won't care what I do or do not want to know.

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geebee
This is an interesting issue... is AirBnB legally obligated to police the
rentals? Or are they considered more of an intermediary?

Your analogy to driving is an interesting one... is AirBnB the car rental
company or the driver? For instance, if I drive drunk in a rental car, it's my
fault, not hertz's.

There is a big difference, of course - Hertz really can't control what I do in
the car (and they do spell out some restrictions on what I can do with it),
whereas AirBnB has geographic location that might be more useful in
determining whether a short term rental is allowed in an area. But even then,
there may be different regulations on different types of housing units, leases
that might have different restrictions, and so forth. It's hard to see how
this wouldn't involve a requirement that the user "comply with all local laws
and regulations".

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onetwothreefour
If AirBNB are taking a cut and facilitating the rental than of course they
need to know the laws in each location they operate.

~~~
geebee
My earlier point was a narrow one about an analogy to driving laws. In
general, I'm inclined to agree with you.

A big factor for me here is that you can book and pay through AirBnB. That
does make it different from the classifieds or craigslist style ads.

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malandrew
Until the law is changed, can't a rental owner solve this problem and avoid
fines by requiring buyers to purchase one extra rental day in which the owner
stays in the unit? i.e. if you want to stay for five days, the owner rents it
out for 6 days, giving you one day free and the owner has to be there that one
day. AFAICT there is a loophole so long as the owner is present for just one
day of the stay. It only states that the owner must be present, not that the
owner must be present for the entire duration of the stay.

