Local Law 18 went into effect in January in NYC. It requires short-term rental hosts to register with the Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement (OSE) and obtain a registration number. Booking services such as Airbnb and Vrbo will then be required to verify the short-term rental registration number of any accommodation before listing it on their service. The law was passed as a means of curbing illegal rentals that were deemed to take away from NYC's long term rental housing stock. While NYHA agrees with the law's intent to curb the activities of wealthy investors and multiple dwelling owners who have exploited the system to create illegal hotels, the existing legislation has inadvertently facilitated the interests of those same entities while placing unfairly burdensome, and nearly impossible to follow restrictions on responsible 1 &2 family homeowners who reside in their properties. Local Law 18 is clearly disproportionately harming small private homeowners who share their residences for the purposes of supplementing their income to stay above water in the midst of skyrocketing inflation and a failing economy.

 

We firmly believe that an amendment to Local Law 18 is urgently needed to safeguard the rights and homes of the private 1 and 2 family homeowners who are suffering the unintended consequences of this law. We propose the introduction of new legislation that includes reasonable exceptions specifically tailored to protect the interests of small homeowners across the city. This amendment would ensure that responsible homeowners are shielded from the repercussions of a law that we were told was never meant to target them in the first place.