Skift Take
Airbnb and New York City have long had a contentious relationship with one another, and it's only going to become even more litigious, now that the short-term rental company is suing the city, its mayor, and the state attorney general. 2017 is going to be interesting for the sharing giant.
To say that Airbnb and New York City aren't exactly the best of friends might be an understatement.
Although New York City is the $30-billion company's No. 1 market in the U.S., local government in New York has never welcomed the alternative accommodations provider and its peers with open arms.
On Friday, Oct. 21, that relationship got much more contentious when New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law a bill that would heavily fine people who advertise short-term rentals on sites like Airbnb that are in violation of current state law. That means someone who advertises an entire Class A apartment (an apartment in a building with three or more units, the most popular type of listing by far) for a period of less than 30 days could be fined anywhere from $1,000 to $7,500, depending on the number of violations.
Immediately following Cuomo's approval, Airbnb sued the city, the mayor, and New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, someone whom they've done battle with previously. See below for the full complaint.
On Monday, Oct. 24, New York State said it would not enforce the new advertising law until Airbnb's lawsuit is resolved.
Why is New York so tough on Airbnb? It's a complicated and complex issue, but long before Airbnb ever existed, New York has had a problem with the growth of illegal hotels. Prior to Airbnb, some landlords would choose to convert their apartment units into illegal hotel rooms for visitors, which led to the creation of the original Multiple Dwelling Law, way back in 1929. That law was updated in 2010 with companies including Airbnb in mind and put into effect on May 1, 2011. Last week, it was further strengthened by the new law regarding advertisements.
Airbnb fought the 2010 updates to the Multiple Dwelling Law and since then, Airbnb and its peers have not made any changes to their platforms to prevent people from advertising listings that are in violation of that law.
To better understand how Airbnb and New York City have gotten to this point in their relationship with one another, we think it's important to better understand the history of their co
