New Airbnb law blocked from going into effect
BY SYDNEY PEREIRA
A judge blocked a city law aimed at regulating
home-sharing sites like Airbnb and
Home Away in a preliminary injunction last
Thurs., Jan. 3.
Last year, the City Council passed a law that
would have required companies like Airbnb to
submit data to the Mayor’s Offi ce of Special Enforcement
regarding the names and addresses of
hosts, whether short-term rentals include an entire
apartment or a portion of it, plus information about
fees and the number of days that a listing is rented.
Under the law, which would have gone into effect
this year, failure to provide the data would have
resulted in fi nes of $1,500 per listing for each required
reporting period.
Airbnb called the law an “extraordinary act of
government overreach” that would violate the
Fourth Amendment, according to its complaint
fi led last August.
Last week, federal District Judge Paul Engelmayer
granted a preliminary injunction, which prevented
the law from going into effect until he makes a fi nal
decision on the lawsuit.
“The decision today is a huge win for Airbnb and
its users, including the thousands of New Yorkers
at risk of illegal surveillance who use Airbnb
to help make ends meet,” an Airbnb spokesperson
said in a statement. “The court today recognized
PHOTO BY LINCOLN ANDERSON
Carlina Rivera was the prime sponsor of the
City Council law that would force Airbnb to
turn over its data.
the fundamental importance of New Yorkers’ constitutional
rights to privacy and the sanctity of their
own homes.”
Councilmember Carlina Rivera, who sponsored
the legislation, tweeted: “This isn’t over. We will
see this process through as we keep fi ghting to
get back our affordable housing stock from illegal
short-term operators.”
Rivera’s law, co-sponsored by more than threedozen
other councilmembers and passed unanimously,
was originally aimed at cracking down on
home-sharing services, which watchdogs have alleged
are further fueling rising rents.
City Comptroller Scott Stringer found that nearly
10 percent of the city’s rent increases since 2009
are attributable to pressures created by Airbnb, according
to report from last May.
Airbnb’s lawyers applauded the judge’s order,
though it is not the fi nal ruling and the case is ongoing.
Attorney Robbie Kaplan, of Kaplan Hecker &
Fink, said the decision shows that “all Americans
(including businesses) have a right to privacy in
their records.”
“No government can force a company to simply
turn over its entire hard drive every month without
any form of precompliance review,” Kaplan said in
a statement. He added that the judge’s “cogent and
comprehensive opinion takes old-world concepts
which inspired the founders to enact the Fourth
Amendment in the fi rst place and applies them to
today’s modern, high-tech world.”
“The decision makes clear that the city cannot
simply force Internet platforms to provide what the
city is not otherwise allowed under the law without
process,” Sharon Nellez, another Airbnb attorney,
of Sullivan & Cromwell, said in a statement.
8 January 10, 2019 TVG Schneps Media