Airbnb Disclosure Rules Signed Into Law By De Blasio

NEW YORK, NY — Mayor Bill de Blasio signed a landmark bill into law Monday forcing home-sharing companies such as Airbnb to disclose information about its New York City hosts. The new law, which also sets steep fines for withholding the information, aims to help the city in its fight against illegal short-term rentals.

"Bad actors continue to choke our affordable housing stock with illegal hotels, and our Council has unanimously said, 'Release the data and let the city do its job,'" said City Councilwoman Carlina Rivera (D-Manhattan), who sponsored the bill.

The law, which will take effect in 180 days, requires home-sharing services to hand over their hosts' names, addresses, listing URLs and other information to the Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement, which goes after illegal short-term rentals.

The companies will face a fine of up to $1,500 or the amount of fees collected on the listing in the preceding year, whichever is greater, for each listing they report impoperly or fail to disclose.

City Council members pushed the law as a way to help the city to go after unscrupulous landlords who turn apartments into illegal hotels.

The bill's passage in the Council last month marked a victory for the hotel industry, which has reportedly worked to kneecap Airbnb across the country, and a related labor union, the New York Hotel Trades Council. Activist groups such as New York Communities for Change also supported the measure.

Lawmakers who championed the law have offered assurances that law-abiding hosts would not be swept up in the dragnet.

"With this legislation we are going to go after the most egregious operators, and we're going to help educate New Yorkers about the legality of short-term rentals in New York City," Rivera said Monday.

But Josh Meltzer, Airbnb's head of northeast policy, said homeowners already face "aggressive, unchecked policing, and are fearful of what will happen under this new legislation."

The company wants to work with de Blasio, a Democrat, to create "common sense regulations" that distinguish those people from "the few bad actors who should feel the full force of the law," Meltzer said.

"We are disappointed Mayor de Blasio chose to sign this hotel industry-backed bill instead of defending the needs of middle class New Yorkers who rely on sharing their home to get by," Meltzer said in a statement.

Airbnb reportedly sued over a New York law setting fines for illegally advertising short-term rentals, but the company agreed to drop the lawsuit in 2016 as long as Airbnb itself would not be fined, according to The New York Times.

Asked about the prospect of suing over the new disclosure law, Airbnb spokeswoman Liz DeBold Fusco said, "We are considering our next steps."

(Lead image: Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)