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NY official: Airbnb stay illegal; host fined $2,400

news.cnet.com

101–110 of 276 posts

Re: NY official: Airbnb stay illegal; host fined $2,400

#101
post #62

I've had this argument with several people. Their position is that "it's my house/apartment, I should be able to do what I want with it" (even when renting they use this argument). My argument is that this is not and has never been true. You can't, for example, run a tannery in your apartment. What's more, as a resident (and especially if I were an owner) I wouldn't want my building being a de facto hotel. An endless…

Oh, its more serious than that.

(IANAL) Using a dwelling for short term rental may be a violation of the covenants upon the deed and may allow someone previously holding title to the land to reclaim it - this is why Home Owner Associations are obligated to enforce the regulations of deed restricted communities and what allows them to impose sanctions against violators.

I once was involved with a waterfront parcel deeded to the city for a park in the 1920's. It was never developed as such and an adjacent property owner - a trauma surgeon - offered to purchase it. I became involved nine years on after the surgeon had tracked down and obtained a quit-claim from all the surviving heirs of the previous owners. That was in 2002 as part of the city's approval of the sale.

Re: NY official: Airbnb stay illegal; host fined $2,400

#102
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounds more like your own personal paranoia than any sort of rational argument agains Airbnb. The fact that you might have visitors from all over the world passing through the area only enriches the culture and worldliness. To assume that a bunch of tourists paying $150 or more a night will result in increased crime sounds baseless

I don't think there has to be a rational argument against AirBnB. I could create a business telling people that I'll tell you how to get rich, charge them $10,000 and then tell them "Work hard and look for opportunity." and you could say that's horrible and whatever else but there's no rational argument against it. Living standards isn't something you can rationally argue. I don't care about visitors passing through…

[deleted]

Re: NY official: Airbnb stay illegal; host fined $2,400

#103

This ruling only applies to the 5 boroughs of New York City, not the entire state.

This is actually an annoying thing about NYC. In NYC, when people say "New York," they actually mean "New York City's five boroughs." When people say "upstate" or "upstate New York," they mean the rest of the state of New York minus NYC. When people say "the city," they mean "Manhattan." The title only makes sense to residents of NYC.

As someone who lives outside of the US entirely, New York = NYC, New York State = the state of New York. As such, the original title was clear to me.

Re: NY official: Airbnb stay illegal; host fined $2,400

#104
post #73
post #62

I've had this argument with several people. Their position is that "it's my house/apartment, I should be able to do what I want with it" (even when renting they use this argument). My argument is that this is not and has never been true. You can't, for example, run a tannery in your apartment. What's more, as a resident (and especially if I were an owner) I wouldn't want my building being a de facto hotel. An endless…

Your argument is completely shallow and void of reason.. > You can't, for example, run a tannery in your apartment Why not? Whats your argument? >What's more, as a resident (and especially if I were an owner) I wouldn't want my building being a de facto hotel. If I owned a building then I set the rules/laws. This is about property rights, not about what you think is right or wrong. If I want to turn my home into a tr…

>If I owned a building then I set the rules/laws.

He is talking about when you own an apartment, not the whole building.

And even when you own a building you still don't get to "set the rules/laws". There are tons of laws about what you can, and what you cannot do with and in your building. And in some areas, like e.g. Santa Fe IIRC, there can even be rules about what your building should look like.

Given those, starting your response with "your argument is completely shallow and void of reason.." is certainly ironic.

Re: NY official: Airbnb stay illegal; host fined $2,400

#105
post #54
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is very elitist of you. But then again, you did say you're from NY.

When NYC residents tell you we don't want this and some startup founders in California tell you yes you do, that is elitist.

But then other New York residents agree with them by using their services and your point is moot because at the end of the day, you have no right to say they can't do that.

Re: NY official: Airbnb stay illegal; host fined $2,400

#106
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I looked into adding Airbnb-friendly language to my lease for my rental property, but I am not a lawyer and any lawyer I could hire to work on the language would probably be breaking new ground. I had a friendly chat last year with someone at Airbnb about them possibly taking the reigns on this, but I don't think anything ever came of it. It might go a long way towards getting friendlier relations between landlords a…

Why would a landlord (at least in a low-vacancy area like NY or SF) ever accept such an amendment to the lease?

They could do it in exchange for charging an even higher rent?

Re: NY official: Airbnb stay illegal; host fined $2,400

#107
So Business Insider is summarizing a post from Fast Company, which itself is summarizing a post from CNet, which did actual reporting and has the text of the decision. I wish OPs would take the time to actually figure this out before submitting links. You want good journalism? Then support it by promoting the original work, not the get-rick-quick aggregation.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57585377-93/ny-official-air...

Re: NY official: Airbnb stay illegal; host fined $2,400

#108
post #22

Few things that should be pointed out here: 1) First off, most uses in the city have always been against the rules -- it's been a known issue. 2) from TFA: "this law is only actionable as a secondary offense. For example, if the police show up after a noise complaint and then find you renting out your place, only then are you in extra trouble." So it's not going to stop most hosts in their tracks. 3) AFAIK, there is…

Wouldn't it be smart of airbnb to not allow people in cities known that their services are illegal not to allow people to post those apartments ?

Re: NY official: Airbnb stay illegal; host fined $2,400

#109
post #62

I've had this argument with several people. Their position is that "it's my house/apartment, I should be able to do what I want with it" (even when renting they use this argument). My argument is that this is not and has never been true. You can't, for example, run a tannery in your apartment. What's more, as a resident (and especially if I were an owner) I wouldn't want my building being a de facto hotel. An endless…

> You can't, for example, run a tannery in your apartment.

I would prefer that you could, in the (perhaps unlikely) scenario that it was allowed by the terms of your rental agreement. If it's your own property, go right ahead.

> What's more, as a resident (and especially if I were an owner) I wouldn't want my building being a de facto hotel.

Many residents would probably agree, and if enough agree, then there's no reason why the property owner couldn't prohibit the practice in the rental agreements. I live in San Francisco, where airbnb is legal (as far as I know), yet my property owner explicitly prohibits "short term subleasing," effectively banning airbnb rentals. No law or government action required, no criminals made, no taxpayer-funded enforcement, and no problem.

Re: NY official: Airbnb stay illegal; host fined $2,400

#110
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is actually an annoying thing about NYC. In NYC, when people say "New York," they actually mean "New York City's five boroughs." When people say "upstate" or "upstate New York," they mean the rest of the state of New York minus NYC. When people say "the city," they mean "Manhattan." The title only makes sense to residents of NYC.

Actually, I am a resident of Rochester and I understood the title intuitively. Rochester is far (6 hours+) from The City. I was from Buffalo before that, even farther away. I am used to hearing about odd laws that only apply in NYC (the boroughs), from special conditions on a learners' permit license, to bans on 16+oz fountain drinks, when I hear "now illegal in New York" I tend to think naturally, it must apply only…

Actually NYC pays for itself, and upsate sucks money from Long Island and Westchester, whether you account by where you live or where you work:

(This is by where you live) $Paid $Recd Pop Capital Region 3.8% 7.0% 4.2% New York City 45.1% 40.0% 42.9% Downstate Suburbs 27.4% 17.7% 21.7% Rest of State 23.8% 35.2% 31.2%

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