mowotlarx t1_jcfiwdt wrote on March 16, 2023 at 1:53 PM

I was under the impression all Airbnbs under a 30-day stay were already banned a long time ago. So I'm always surprised when I see headlines like this.

DaoFerret t1_jcfolnk wrote on March 16, 2023 at 2:33 PM

All “short term rentals” (under 30 days) without the official renter also staying there (renting a room is a completely different story) have, and continue to be, illegal according to the city law.

Doesn’t mean people don’t do it anyway.

grandlewis t1_jcfwoi9 wrote on March 16, 2023 at 3:26 PM

Haven’t you heard of “move fast and break things”? Tech lords need to make a few billion without worrying about things like laws and neighborhoods.

upnflames t1_jcg8myz wrote on March 16, 2023 at 4:42 PM

Airbnb is becoming a catchall term for STR's these days - truth is, you really don't need Airbnb to stay booked anymore. All you need is a direct booking website and a small budget for Instagram ads. That's how I get about half of my bookings. My rental is legitimately registered with the town it's in, so I'm fine either way, but there is literally no enforcement of anything on the direct side. It would be damn near impossible for a city to catch it if that's the only place you listed.

HonestPerspective638 t1_jcgcr0s wrote on March 16, 2023 at 5:07 PM

they can make the fine and penalty so punative you would reconsider taking the chance... eventually they will find a way to track. Itnot that hard without giving away too much

upnflames t1_jcgff3o wrote on March 16, 2023 at 5:24 PM

I mean, they could. They probably won't though. They can barely do it when it's handed to them through a multi billion dollar company, the odds of them tracking a direct booking through a private site is slim to none.

The person doesn't even have to be a US citizen to pull this off. Create a US LLC, rent the apartment through a broker, hire a shady property manager under the table and run the whole thing remotely. The only reason people use Airbnb is because it's easy. If they made it harder, people would just go around.