Short-Term Rental Ban in New York City – Frequently Asked Questions
This law will apply to all residential buildings in New York City, correct?
- It will apply to many but not all residential buildings in New York City.
- This law will make it illegal to rent Class A Multiple Dwelling units (which include condominium as well as coop units) for less than thirty days within New York City
- You can contact your architect or lawyer (alternatively the department of buildings) to help you determine whether or not your property will be affected by this legislation.
- The full text of the legislation can be accessed via the following link: http://open.nysenate.gov/legislation/bill/S6873B-2009
This law will only be enforced against landlords who have turned their residential building into an illegal hotel/hostel, right?
- The law as written is very broad and it would be reckless to speculate who the law will (or will not) be enforced against.
- Enforcement will be complaint-based and by and large fueled by calls to 311 (New York City’s phone number for government information and non-emergency services).
- These calls to 311 could be made by anyone (a disgruntled neighbor, guest, competitor etc.).
- The Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement will be charged with investigating the complaints.
- The Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement is currently responsible for coordinating enforcement efforts across New York City to address quality of issues related to notorious adult use, lawless clubs and trademark counterfeiting bazaars.
But the co-sponsors of this legislation have implied that it is not going to be enforced against small property owners who occasionally rent their apartment for less than thirty days? [1]
- As co-sponsor Liz Krueger herself admitted in an interview in the summer of 2010, “the role of the legislature is limited to passing this legislation and not the enforcement of its provisions.” [2]
Why did the New York legislature choose to ban short-term accommodations as opposed to regulating them and elected to forego the tax revenues collected by short-term rental property and B&B establishment’s owners etc.?
- We do not know but it might be a good question to ask your local representative.
Please stay tuned for updates as the day of implementation approaches.
As always, your comments and questions are welcome.
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[1] http://beta.wnyc.org/shows/bl/2010/jul/08/illegal-hotel-crackdown/
[1] http://therealdeal.com/newyork/articles/10-questions-for-krueger-and-gottfried-on-illegal-hotel-bill
Has anyone received a violation for renting a room in their apartment? I can’t understand how the city/neighbor/landlord can distinguish between visiting friends and relatives and paying guests. If I know a neighbor is complaining about ‘strange people’ in the building-what is my recourse?
I received a violation over the summer for “occupancy contrary to that allowed by C of O – 2-family dwelling converted to transient use”
This was for a 2-family house in Queens, based on a neighbor complaint and the inspector speaking to the tenant who indicated “he is only here for a visit of a few weeks or months” and
the inspector also claimed he saw a person arriving with luggage. The inspector admitted that there
was nothing illegal about the house in and of itself, but that the violation was based entirely on
that he believed it was being rented out on a short-term basis for a few days or weeks at a time, and that this is illegal in a 2-family house, being contrary to the C of O.
In the first place, I thought I was allowed to rent a 2-family house out short term, but in any case at the hearing I presented a lease for 6 weeks along with the argument that since the lease was for over 30 days, it could not legally even be considered transient use in the first place and the case should be dismissed…
However, I was found guilty, and now I wonder if the city can just decide whatever it wants, irrespective of the law?
I plan to appeal since it seems to me the decision was improper… Can anyone comment on this?
They did it because of the the major hotel lobbyists…