Airbnb Records of Uncompleted Reservations Must Be Given to NYC

In a lawsuit against Airbnb concerning unlawful short-term rentals where the Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement (OSE) issued subpoenas, NYC sought user records of individuals whose postings for certain buildings on Airbnb's website didn't result in completed reservations. Airbnb objected to producing the records, claiming that would be an unwarranted invasion of its users' privacy rights. NYC argued that the existence of advertisements that didn't result in completed reservations was directly relevant to the question of what individual building owners and managers know, or should know, about the status of claimed ongoing unlawful short-term tenancies in their buildings. This was an issue of concern in nuisance abatement litigation before the court. The court found those records were material and relevant to NYC's ongoing investigation of alleged unlawful short-term tenancies in various multiple dwelling buildings. The Special Master appointed by the court ruled that certain records submitted in camera to the Master should be produced to NYC to aid in its ongoing investigation, since the records either would aid NYC in prosecuting individuals already named in the court actions who successfully booked reservations via Airbnb or may lead to the discovery of additional entities and individuals who permitted or participated in a larger unlawful transient occupancy operation. 

City of New York v. Airbnb, Inc.: Index Nos. 451409/2018, 451582/2018, 157516/2018, 157517/2018 (Sup. Ct. NY; 3/12/20; Lawrence, SM)