
Huge victory in New York for Nigel Warren and our host community - lennysan
http://publicpolicy.airbnb.com/huge-victory-new-york-nigel-warren-host-community/
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gkoberger
I love AirBnb. I use it all the time.

But, I understand the laws in big cities. Let's say you rent an apartment in a
building, which virtually anyone in NYC is doing. Would you want random people
having access to your building? Random people getting a copy of the keys? It's
your home, and your neighbor is treating the space like a hotel. You'll have
random people all over who don't necessarily respect your space.

Additionally, it raises rates for apartments. $150/night is nothing for a nice
AirBnb place, but it makes for some pretty expensive rent.

~~~
physcab
> Additionally, it raises rates for apartments. $150/night is nothing for a
> nice AirBnb place, but it makes for some pretty expensive rent.

Yes, this is my issue. People who rent out apartments with the intention of
running them like a hotel, will inflate rent for everyone else bc anyone who
doesn't have the intention of running their apartment like a hotel won't be
able to afford the market price. There are more of them than you might think,
I know of atleast two.

~~~
gaadd33
Assuming the people who rent out apartments comply with the existing law, they
will have to rent out at least 2BR apartments, the supply of which is already
very low, and live in the 2nd bedroom while their guests are there. Do you
really think that will have a large impact on rent?

On a side note, corporations already effectively do this. I lived in a
building in Midtown that was at least 50% corporate housing and there were
constantly people there for short stays and the rent increases were massive
since the companies weren't price sensitive. However, afaik, that is legal.

~~~
physcab
> they will have to rent out at least 2BR apartments Or they stay with a
> friend, a significant other, a cheaper apartment outside the city, their
> parent's house, etc.

~~~
gaadd33
At that point they are violating the existing law. Seems like it would be
pretty trivial for a pissed off neighbor to report them then.

~~~
o0-0o
As long as the owner of the apartment is there fine. My upstairs neighbor used
to rent out her apt on AirBNB while she was out of town. On two occasions, the
occupant flooded my apartment below because they didn't understand how to user
a washer and air conditioner properly. I reported the apartment owner to the
city by calling 311.

Unless the apartment owner is responsible and insured, this is why it is
illegal in New York.

What wasn't trivial was the damage. Thousands of dollars to electronics,
desks, furnishings, etc.

AirBNB should be ashamed of themselves for pursuing profits at any costs.

It's one thing to rent your house out in the middle of nowhere. It's another
to rent it to eurotrash and let them destroy your building.

------
georgemcbay
This is great for airbnb but based on my (admittedly limited) understanding of
this specific case from their blogs on it, this case wasn't particularly
representative of the normal use case or the normal problems that can come up
when subletting through airbnb.

From the blog posts it seems as if the guy's landlord was on-board with him
subletting, which is a different situation than many I hear about where the
landlord has no idea (and may in fact be the one going after the renter if he
or she finds out). Also it seems the guy was present and only renting out a
room during the guest's stay which allowed him to get off on a technicality in
this case while many Airbnb renters will rent the entire space during vacation
times, etc.

~~~
cowsandmilk
> From the blog posts it seems as if the guy's landlord was on-board with him
> subletting

This has never been clear to me. His landlord was the one cited for
(supposedly) violating the law, so he naturally was interested in a defense to
avoid the fine and having a citation on record. I'm not sure he actually
approved of his tenant renting a room of his apartment on airbnb.

