Is Airbnb illegal in New York? Definitely not, but many of its hosts break the law

Yesterday a New York City judge ruled that Nigel Warren, a tenant in who rented his apartment to a user on Airbnb would have to pay a $2,400 fine for breaking a New York State law that prohibits almost all rentals of apartments for less than 30 days in the city. The New York Times' Ron Lieber began covering Warren's case in November, and he was seen as something of a canary in the coal mine in the industry; so much so that Airbnb sent legal representation to advise Warren. Still, he lost, and he'll have to cover the fine. Airbnb responded to the ruling by issuing a statement which read, in part, “This decision runs contrary to the stated intention and the plain text of New York law, so obviously we are disappointed.” The problem is, the decision was exactly in line with the plain text of New York law (you can read the full senate bill here). The law was written to deal with the growing number of apartments in New York City that were being used to house by-the-night transient visitors. Although Airbnb has consistently argued that this was a movement by the threatened hotel industry to ban short-term rentals, it was actually a years-long movement by tenants and community groups to prevent the wholesale takeover of buildings zoned for residential use by landlords eager for the higher incomes short-term rentals could bring. In fact, some of