Court Denies Tenants' Challenge to New Rules Requiring Short-Term Rental Registration

Three NYC residents who previously utilized short-term rentals of their apartments to supplement their income sued the city's Office of Special Enforcement (OSE), claiming that new rules issued to enforce Local Law 18 of 2022 were irrational and should be struck down. The rules required registration by potential hosts with the city for short-term rentals of the hosts' dwellings. The tenants claimed that the government couldn't demand the required personal information and that they couldn't understand the various building codes that they had to certify compliance with. OSE argued in response that the rules were part of the city's attempt to root out widespread, unlawful short-term rentals. OSE stated that there currently were 10,000 active illegal short-term rentals advertised on Airbnb, which also sued the city over the new rules (see LVT #32722).

The court ruled against tenants. The certification requirement in the new rules was inherently reasonable. And the tenants couldn't avoid their obligations under the law and rules by saying that they just didn't or couldn't understand them. OSE on the other hand has a clear interest in ensuring some baseline level of understanding of this commercial activity. The requirement to list only the number of individuals residing in an apartment with the host applicant didn't reveal personal information. Tenants' claim that the rules violated the Fourth Amendment also was wholly without merit. The court also rejected tenants' claim that the rules should be void for vagueness. 

Arora v. NYC Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement: Index No. 154868/2023, 2023 NY Slip Op 32741(U)(Sup. Ct. NY; 8/8/23; Bluth, J)