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Eugene

(61,974 posts) Thu Jan 3, 2019, 01:50 PM Jan 2019

Judge blocks New York City law requiring Airbnb to hand over user data

Source: Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge on Thursday blocked a New York City law requiring Airbnb to hand over data each month about people who use its apartment listing service from taking effect while the company challenges the law in court.

The preliminary ruling, handed down by U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer in Manhattan, could be a boon to the San Francisco-based company as it prepares for a widely anticipated initial public offering later this year.

-snip-

Airbnb allows users to lease or sublease their homes to guests through an online service. The company’s critics in New York and other major cities say the service contributes to high housing costs and overcrowding.

In 2010, in an effort to address those concerns, the state of New York passed a law banning apartment rentals for periods of less than 30 days unless a permanent resident remains in the apartment. New York City also bans short-term apartment rentals in many cases.

-snip-

U.S. JANUARY 3, 2019 / 10:53 AM / UPDATED 26 MINUTES AGO
Brendan Pierson
3 MIN READ

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-airbnb-lawsuit/judge-blocks-new-york-city-law-requiring-airbnb-to-hand-over-user-data-idUSKCN1OX19R

6 replies

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Highlight:

Judge blocks New York City law requiring Airbnb to hand over user data (Original Post) Eugene Jan 2019 OP

It sounds as if some of the requests were overreaching, which is unfortunate. AirBnB is a problem. LisaM Jan 2019 #1

condo associations KT2000 Jan 2019 #2

A lot of things about AirBnB bug me, including the lack of a hotel tax. LisaM Jan 2019 #4

Airbnb has been accused of tax dodging thruout the world. mpcamb Jan 2019 #3

The problem of Airbnb contributing to high rentals PoindexterOglethorpe Jan 2019 #5

We were AirBnB hosts (and SuperHosts) for over 7 years in Philadelphia GoneOffShore Jan 2019 #6

LisaM

(27,863 posts)

1. It sounds as if some of the requests were overreaching, which is unfortunate. AirBnB is a problem.

Reply to Eugene (Original post)

Thu Jan 3, 2019, 02:04 PM

Jan 2019

Last edited Thu Jan 3, 2019, 08:12 PM - Edit history (1)

I swear, why can't these companies just stick to what they set out to do, instead of allowing this market creep? I had a friend who had to sell her condo and move because so many units were occupied by an endless merry-go-round of AirBnB users (this was in Seattle). That's not okay.

To map this process, Wachsmuth and his team used estimates of Airbnb activity from AirDNA, a California-based firm that scrapes and analyzes Airbnb data. They studied Airbnb activity from September 2014 to August 2017, including more than 80 million data points, for the whole 20 million population of the New York City metro region. They also used a number of new spatial big-data methodologies developed specifically to analyze short-term rentals.

Their conclusion: Most of those rumors are true. Wachsmuth found reason to believe that Airbnb has indeed raised rents, removed housing from the rental market, and fueled gentrification—at least in New York City. To figure out how, the researchers mapped out four key categories of Airbnb’s impact in New York: where Airbnb is concentrated and how that’s changing; which hosts make the most money; whether it’s driving gentrification in the city; and how much housing it has removed from the rental market.

https://www.citylab.com/equity/2018/03/what-airbnb-did-to-new-york-city/552749/

KT2000

(20,605 posts)

2. condo associations

Reply to LisaM (Reply #1)

Thu Jan 3, 2019, 02:34 PM

Jan 2019

need to do something about this. If their buildings turn into party central, their values will go down. Of course some owners would want to keep the airbnb's.
What bothers me about these places is that while hotels need to follow laws and be inspected by various agencies, the airbnb's don't.

LisaM

(27,863 posts)

4. A lot of things about AirBnB bug me, including the lack of a hotel tax.

Reply to KT2000 (Reply #2)

Thu Jan 3, 2019, 03:29 PM

Jan 2019

A lot of cities have enacted hotel taxes (rightly or wrongly, that's a different argument) to cover capital projects, especially things that ultimately are used by tourists. AirBnB manages to evade these, so on top of the other issues, it costs municipalities tax dollars.

mpcamb

(2,883 posts)

3. Airbnb has been accused of tax dodging thruout the world.

Reply to Eugene (Original post)

Thu Jan 3, 2019, 03:15 PM

Jan 2019

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,930 posts)

5. The problem of Airbnb contributing to high rentals

Reply to Eugene (Original post)

Thu Jan 3, 2019, 04:13 PM

Jan 2019

and sheer lack of any rentals available is not just a NYC problem.

In Santa Fe, where I live, it seems to be an issue. Plus, the not paying of hotel tax.

GoneOffShore

(17,346 posts)

6. We were AirBnB hosts (and SuperHosts) for over 7 years in Philadelphia

Reply to Eugene (Original post)

Thu Jan 3, 2019, 05:05 PM

Jan 2019

We ran everything through our business, paid taxes, and when the state came after us for back hotel tax we paid up.

Our situation was a bit different to most as we were renting out a floor in our house while we lived in the other part. Which had upsides and downsides.

We got out after 7 years, because AirBnB had gotten too big, too greedy, and way too corporate. It became not fun. And the people? OFFS(and here comes the very broad brush, because it does apply), I never would want to be working in hospitality in the US. Over the past 15 years Americans have become more and more demanding and unreasonable when it comes to 'expectations' as regards accommodation.

I'm surprised that anyone would want to let out their property now.

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