Office of Special Enforcement Sees Short-Term Rental Transactions

The government wants to keep an eye on those short term rentals and your spending.

Online vacation-rental giants Airbnb, Inc and HomeAway.com, Inc. had received an injunction on January 3rd, 2019 that granted a preliminary relief from Local Law 2018/146. The law was passed by city council as N.Y.C. Admin. Code § 26-2101-5 and was scheduled to take effect on February 2, 2019. It would require the vacation giants on a monthly basis to turn over voluminous data regarding customers who use their platforms to advertise short-term rentals. However, the injunction had suspended this enforcement. Therefore, struck out of luck, Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement had proposed a new rule that would allow them to monitor transactions related to vacation rentals. The rule has been adapted after a public hearing that concluded with some minor corrections.
OSE has been cracking down on illegal hotel rooms, specifically those advertised online. Some of the harshest enforcement are attributed to illegal transient use violations, as they are know in construction code. Their penalties can go as high $1,000 per day and can reach as much as $45,000. The violation is also issued along with two other violations that always accompany transient use - lack of sprinklers and second means of egress, as those are the requirements for transient use.
While resolving illegal hotel room may be an expensive undertaking, there is a way to beat the ticket at a hearing, according to building violation professionals at Building Violation LLC. For example, in order to sustain the in-violation status, the transient use classification must be satisfied, which is a rental of less than 30 days. "Therefore, if our customer has proof that she rented the unit on AirBnB for a period of more than 30 days, than we can present that evidence at a hearing to attempt to dismiss the transient use charge.", says their friendly customer service rep that responded to our inquiry.
With rents and costs going sky high in the city, no wonder that local residents are seeking any possible means to earn income. Sometimes it's illegal and sometimes it's not, you need an expert to figure out the codes and help you to stay clear of penalties.