NYC Enforcement Boss on Short-Term Rental Law: ‘It’s Working’ – Exclusive
Photo Caption: A file photo of a NYC Airbnb host in 2017 before the city cracked down on tighter regulations.
Skift Take
The short-term rental market in New York City in 2025 is largely unrecognizable when measured against the short-term rental scene in 2023. Whether that's a good or a bad thing depends on your perspective.
The head of the New York City Office of Special Enforcement recalls how the agency was inundated with short-term rental registration applications in August 2023.
A judge had just dismissed Airbnb’s lawsuit against what it claimed was a “de facto ban” and short-term rental hosts would need to register their listings. Local Law 18 went into effect nearly a month later, on September 5, 2023.
The OSE went into all-hands-on-deck mode to deal with a massive backlog, said Christian Klossner, the agency's executive director.
Fearful of seeing their listings getting taken down by Airbnb, Vrbo or Booking.com, some hosts seemingly fired off applications without clearly understanding prohibitions such as basement or rent-regulated apartments, or being on the Prohibited Buildings List.
To clear the backlog, the OSE added 10 staff members and for two months used 10 members of the New York City Police Department's cadet program. They supplemented
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