New York passes a law that restricts rentals for Airbnb – Expansion MX

NEW YORK (EFE). –

New York governor Andrew Cuomo signed on Friday a law that restricts the advertisement of apartment rentals for periods of less than a month through platforms such as Airbnb, a company with which that state takes several years in the struggle.

The business of vacation rentals, with headquarters in San Francisco, he had tried to avoid until the last minute of the approval of the law by the presentation of mechanisms of self-regulation on payment of taxes and even a public record of people who rent apartments.

Airbnb takes years of litigation with the state of New York, given that local legislation does not allow rentals less than 30 days, according to a rule passed in 2010 to combat illegal hotels that proliferated in the Big Apple.

The new law seeks to comply with the regulations in force, based on the imposition of fines of up to $ 7,500.

Read: the EU armors to income in the short-term Airbnb

Yes, you may continue to advertise, among other things, the rental of rooms when the owner remains in the home, something that it is permissible for periods of less than a month.

The business of Airbnb is valued at 30,000 million worldwide and main market in the united States is New York.

The groups that promote affordable housing in the state argue that it is removed from the rental market many homes that are more profitable to the owners if the use of tourists for high prices, rather than as permanent housing for new yorkers.

In April 2014, the Office of New York asked for the first time information on the activities of Airbnb, after determining that the 64% of the offers of apartments or rooms in the state of New York that appear in the popular web page could be “illegal”.

Lee: Airbnb brings to court the government of San Francisco

“This is a matter that has been thought of carefully. But ultimately, these activities are expressly prohibited by law,” said the spokesman for Cuomo, Richard Azzopardi, after the passage of the act.

After the news, Airbnb announced that it will file a lawsuit, reported the daily The Daily News. According to the newspaper, the company had already warned in September to Cuomo that he would use the legal route if he signed the statement.

According to told the newspaper the spokesman of Airbnb, Peter Schottenfels, “as is often the case, the dealings behind the scenes of Albany were a group of special interests, the hotel industry, which inflated the price, and ignored the voices of tens of thousands of new yorkers.”