Court Upholds NYC Rules for Registration of Short-Term Apartment Rentals

Airbnb sued the NYC Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement (OSE), seeking to set aside new rules enacted by OSE under Local Law 18 of 2022. The rules require registration of dwellings to be rented out for short-term rentals under 30 days. Short-term rentals already were prohibited under the city's Housing Maintenance Code and Construction Codes unless the unit's permanent resident was present during the rental. Among other things, the required rules included registration of the renter, the units occupied, and their listings with OSE. A short-term rental registration number also was required in all advertisements. Registrants must post and maintain within the dwelling a diagram of normal and emergency exit routs and their short-term rental registration certificate. Registration won't be permitted if there are uncorrected violations or if the units are on a prohibited building list. Airbnb argued that the rules created a de facto ban on short-term rentals. 

The court ruled against Airbnb and granted OSE's motion to dismiss the case. The court found that Airbnb had standing to bring this case but only to the extent that it challenged the rules that apply to Airbnb's booking of services. Airbnb had no standing to challenge the registration requirements for hosts. The court also rejected Airbnb's claim that the rules were arbitrary and capricious. OSE acted within the scope of its authority under Local Law 18. OSE explained that the rules were needed to combat thousands of illegal short-term rental listings. OSE claimed there were 43,000 illegal short-term rental listings in 2018 alone. Between 2017 and 2021, over 15,000 violations were issued for illegal short-term rentals. The rules also didn't exceed OSE's police powers. 

Airbnb, Inc. v. NYC Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement: Index No. 154865/2023, 2023 NY Slip Op 32740(U)(Sup. Ct. NY; 8/8/23; Bluth, J)