NYC Registration Requirements for Short-Term Rentals Take Effect

Adopted on Jan. 9, 2022, this local law became effective on Jan. 9, 2023. The new Admin. Code Sections added to the law require short-term rental hosts to register with the NYC Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement (OSE). Booking service platforms such as Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com, and others will be prohibited from processing transactions for unregistered short-term rentals. Registration under this program will begin once regulations implementing the law take effect, which will be 30 days after final rules are published. Once the rules are finalized, OSE will publish on its website instructions on how to apply for registration. OSE states that enforcement of the registration requirements won't begin until July 2023. 

The law limits registration to a person who is the permanent occupant of a housing unit, and prohibits granting a registration for certain types of units, such as rent-regulated and NYCHA units. The law also requires OSE to deny registration requests for buildings on a prohibited buildings list, which will be created for owners who notify the OSE that short-term rentals are not permitted in their buildings. The law doesn't change which short-term rentals are legal or illegal, but registration applicants will be required to confirm that they understand and will comply with laws governing housing, and will be required to host only legal short-term rentals, specifically stays for no more than two guests and hosted in the unit the host lives in.

Short-term rental listings for units in "Class B" multiple dwellings, which have been approved by NYC for legal short-term occupancies, are exempt from the registration requirement, as are rentals for 30 consecutive days or more.

OSE will create and maintain the list of buildings whose owners have notified OSE that rentals of less than 30 days are not permitted. Building owners can opt out of short-term rentals simply by notifying OSE that their building is on the list. OSE is required under the law to notify a building owner within 30 days of an application for an apartment. Booking services like AirBnB are required to file monthly information reports with OSE.

NYC Local Law 18 of 2022: Short-Term Rental Registration Law (adding Adm. Code Sections 26-3101, 26-3102, 26-3201, 26-3202, 26-3203, eff. 1/9/23)[13-page document]