Airbnb, the popular online platform for renting out couches and spare rooms, is earning tens of millions of dollars off illegal listings in New York City, the state attorney general said Thursday.
In a new report based on an examination of 35,354 short-term rentals on the site between January 2010 and June 2, 2014, attorney general’s office found that 72 percent of the listings flouted local laws, all the while helping Airbnb to earn nearly $40 million.
“Commercial users,” which controlled more than 10 different apartments, were also making a bonanza off Airbnb listings, earning some $59.4 million in revenue, the report said. The attorney general’s office also said “numerous units appear to serve as illegal hostels.”
“This report raises serious concerns about the proliferation of illegal hotels and the impact of Airbnb and sites like it on the city of New York,” Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement.
The report also found that Airbnb listings are concentrated in “gentrified neighborhoods” like Greenwich Village, SoHo and Chelsea, while less than three percent are found in Queens, the Bronx and Staten island.
A spokesman for Airbnb said in an email that the report’s conclusions relied on “incomplete and outdated information.”
7 comments:
How do you enforce this?
Get a judge that will enforce a subpoena against airbnb.
check this story out on this pig who took advantage of a barn owner,it's airbnb's poster girl.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/10/airbnb-poster-child-shell-evicted-for-airbnbing.html
the runts at airbnb thought it would be just peachy to exploit the tragedy of hurricane sandy also.this just verifies everything that's wrong with social networking.
these parasites have made a half a billion dollars in the 5 boros,and it's a safe bet that since their existence has led to the rise in bedbugs.
let's just add that this vibrant little business is not good for ny with the possibility of an ebola outbreak.
Looks like the Attorney General will collect an enormous fine from them right before his next election in four years, unless Cahill can pull of the upset.
In my coop, an owner sub let (with out permission) a 3bdrm apartment to a guy who turned it into an airbnb--getting the subletter evicted took over a year, and now we are going after the owner.
Time and expense! Just cause we, (the coop members) want what we paid for.. the right to know our neighbors! If i wanted to live in a hotel or boarding house, i would have done so--AirBnB effects the whole building, not just the person who is renting. totally wrong.
EVERY dollar they earn is in violation of the law. Period.
too bad ... get used to it , it's here to stay
anyway most people ( not all of them ) would not use Airbnb if their fuckin' rent was not so damn expensive!!
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