Can Airbnb really hide behind its murky understanding of the law until its IPO?
Skift Take
Earlier this week, a New York City judge likened an apartment rented out through the online service to an “illegal hotel” and fined the offender, Nigel Warren, $2,400. But what about everyone else? Do New Yorkers who planned to make a few bucks this coming holiday weekend risk getting into trouble also?
A New York state law does indeed forbid rentals for less than 29 days unless the tenant is living there at the same time. But rather than acknowledging this very real challenge to its business model, Airbnb continues to operate in denial. Even more dangerously, it’s asking that of customers. Consider this email the company sent users yesterday:
…this points out with absolute clarity that the laws in New York need to be changed so this can never happen again. While there is universal acknowledgement that hosts like Nigel were not the intended target of the law, that provides little comfort to the few who find themselves subject to these fines.
The bottom line of yesterday’s news is tha
