2023-09-04 22:06:45
Thousands of ads for rentals for a few days in New York have disappeared in recent weeks from Airbnb and other similar platforms in a city that is increasingly expensive for residents and tourists. After years of struggles, also in the courts, this Tuesday a law comes into force that in practice means eliminating the majority of tourist apartments for short-term accommodation.
The New York skyscraper that nearly collapsed due to a hidden error
Further
The new rules force those who rent houses for less than 30 days to register with the New York City Council to obtain a license and abide by rules that until now were not followed by the majority: the hosts have to be present in their houses during the entire time that the guest is there -it is not worth going on vacation and renting or subletting-, making sure that the tenant has access to the entire house -it is not worth closing doors to isolate a space- and accommodating a maximum of two paying people -whether whatever the size of the house. These rules do not apply to apartments in buildings intended for short-term rentals, usually hotels, apart-hotels, residence halls and apartments of some smaller companies that Airbnb.
According to AirDNA, a consultancy specializing in short-term rentals, only 9,500 Airbnb listings were in compliance before the compulsory license went into effect. Airbnb offered more than 38,000 apartment and house rentals in New York, its top U.S. market, according to documents for the lawsuit that tried unsuccessfully to stop enforcement.
Nearly half of the hosts have more than one property, according to Inside Airbnb data, a group that examines the platform’s data and highlights its negative impact on cities. The list of hosts includes companies that rent hundreds of apartments like this.
Compulsory licenses are common in other cities, such as Barcelona or Paris, as are other limitations by neighborhoods and uses, although not the requirement of the continued presence of the host, the most controversial element of the law that has mobilized small owners, who seek now an amendment for your case.
Restrictions for rentals of less than 30 days were already in force in New York and the city fines individuals and companies that rent (not guests) the equivalent of thousands of euros, but registration is one more step to try that they be fulfilled The City Council defends that the rules want to protect guests so that they are in safe environments, preserve the life of the neighborhoods and reduce one of the factors that raises housing prices.
Tourist apartment rentals “remove housing options from New Yorkers, endanger the tourists who stay there and disturb the quality of life of our neighbors”, as he has defended. the law enforcer at City HallChristian Klossner.
Until August 28, the City Council had approved fewer than 300 applications of the more than 3,000 received, including complaints about the slowness and lack of personnel for this registry that costs 145 dollars (about 135 euros). Those who are not registered will not be able to charge through platforms such as Airbnb, Expedia and Booking, which will block hosts who do not have a license or do not offer their houses for at least 30 days. Ads in New York have already gone from thousands to hundreds.
In August, a judge rejected the complaint against the Airbnb law because it does not consider registration to be “an unreasonable burden” while the restrictions are “completely logical”.
Parallel market
The objective of the license to comply with the rules is to put an end to the parallel real estate market, in the hands mainly of companies and large owners, who prefer short-term rentals and limit the conventional rental market. The effect of Airbnb and other similar platforms on the rise in purchase and rental prices in the neighborhoods of large cities has been documented.
One of the most comprehensive studies, published in 2020, analyzed all Airbnb listings in the United States and considered other local economic factors that affect prices. His conclusion was that each 1% increase in Airbnb listings represents a 0.018% increase in rental prices and a 0.026% increase in sales. “Although these increases may seem very small, it must be considered that Airbnb’s average annual growth is around 44%,” the study underlines.
“If these Airbnb houses are put on the long-term rental market, rents will probably drop,” explains Davide Proserpio, one of the authors of the study, a professor at the Marshall School of Business at the University of the South, to elDiario.es of California and specialist in these platforms. New York law, says the professor, “can kill off Airbnbs that are usually not occupied, probably the majority, so that can lead to less investment in the residential real estate market and lower house prices.”
However, their study also highlights the positive effects of these platforms, particularly in the case of renting houses occupied by the host on a regular basis and who gives up part of their space or rents it out during a temporary absence due to vacations or other circumstances. In these cases, most of these apartments will not end up on the conventional rental market.
In fact, Proserpio assures elDiario.es that the new New York law seems “too harsh” and “of course it will affect the economy of tourism.” “Travellers who want to visit New York will see much higher hotel prices while Airbnb is much less competitive, leading to fewer travelers overall,” he explains.
small owners
The objective of the law is to stop the business of large owners and companies, but the neighbors who live in their houses part or all of the time complain that the law has not left any loophole for them.
“We are small owners, we are clearly not large companies. And we are against bad actors, such as illegal hotels,” Lisa Grossman, one of the four women who have founded an association of family homeowners who rent out the houses where they live, explains to elDiario.es. ROAR, in its acronym in English. Grossman, a travel agent, says that she has lived in Hell’s Kitchen, in western Manhattan, her entire life, and that her space will not go on the permanent rental market under any circumstances because she lives there. Her group has about 300 members and most are in other New York boroughs, where one- or two-family homes are more common and there are fewer hotels.
Grossman explains that the City’s rules don’t sit well with small landlords who now rent out their homes for a few days a year. In his case, he has a closed door that divides the space and that now he could not keep closed if he wanted to rent that space for less than a month. “Share your bathroom, your living room… I don’t need a roommate,” he says.
She also believes that the new rules will have a negative impact on tourism in the city, where hotels average around 300 dollars a night, the highest price in the country, and insists that there are hardly any options for families with children. “This is not good for the city,” says Grossman. “The message from the city is basically we don’t want you unless you’re rich.”
He thinks some of the homeowners who use the extra income to cover living expenses on their homes will sell and leave town if they can.
Median rental price in New York for a studio is $3,500 (more than 3,200 euros) and the cost of buying that space is close to a million dollars (more than 900,000 euros).
“Many of us have always used short-term rentals as a way to afford and maintain our homes,” Gia Sharp, a Brooklyn designer who until now rented part of the space in the house where she lived on platforms like Airbnb, explained to elDiario.es. lives with her husband and two children. She says her tenants were often relatives of other neighbors, many immigrants from other countries or other places in the United States. “I am able to give space to distant family members and others in my community, and that helps all of us New Yorkers.”
Sharp doesn’t think the new restrictions will ease the difficulties of affording a home in the city, and complains that there are no incentives to buy.
“Affordable housing has to include more people being able to own and stay in their homes, not just rent and pay a landlord,” he says. “The idea that the solution to the housing crisis is rent only widens the wealth gap, and makes billionaire landlords have everything in this city.”
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