Dear hosts, well 2020 came in with a bang, — especially for New York hosts. We were the epicenter of COVID cases in the United States, resulting in many people escaping the city and no new arrivals. Which means no guests. No guests, no money.

Then on June 13th, 2020, Airbnb settled an agreement with New York City where Airbnb will now share listing information on a quarterly basis. In today’s episode, I brought back attorney Brandon McKenzie for a discussion on the

Airbnb and New York 2020 Agreement…

Are NY hosts done, is this it?

Who is Brandon McKenzie?

If you’re a new listener, I want to let you know that this is the fifth time that Brandon McKenzie has joined me here at The Hosting Journey Podcast where we discussed everything from how to successfully make claims with Airbnb to how to find Property managers.

Brandon is an attorney with Moss and Moss, LLP, a New York-based law firm. His practice focuses mainly on Airbnb and short-term rentals, real estate, and the sharing economy.

Like always, I have to remind you that Brandon is an attorney — but not your attorney. He is providing legal information but not legal advice. So if you do need the advice of an attorney, please hire your own lawyer.

I want us to be very clear about this New York agreement, so I’m quoting directly from the New York City website:

Updated NY Law:

Under this updated local law, short-term rental platforms would share information with the City on a quarterly basis. The report would include all listings that generate five or more nights of bookings per quarter, so long as the listing offers an entire home or allows three or more guests to stay at one time. Information will not be provided for private or shared room listings with two or fewer guest capacity; for listings that are rented for less than five nights per quarter; or for listings that are in qualifying traditional hospitality locations, based on a list the City will publish.

For all eligible listings, reports provided to the City would be required to include:

The physical address of the listing;

Host information (name, physical address, phone number, and e-mail address);

The name, number, and URL of the listing;

Whether the short-term rental is for an entire unit or part of a unit;

The total number of days booked;

The amount received by the host for each transaction, as well as the account name and anonymized account identifier relating to those payments

The settlement is premised on the amendment of the current local law governing short-term rental reporting to reflect this reporting framework.

And if you’re a New Yorker thinking, “I’ll just host at another platform like Booking or VRBO,” dear hosts, this law applies to every platform, not just Airbnb.

Per Airbnb:

I went to the Airbnb’s website and this is what it says:

This information will only be provided for hosts who have consented — but hosts who do not consent will not be able to list their home as a short-term rental.

Information will not be provided for private or shared room listings with two or fewer guest capacity; any listing hosted for a total of four or less nights in the past quarter; and listings that are qualifying traditional hospitality.

This agreement will be contingent on the City Council’s passage of an amended ordinance to reflect the settlement provisions, and upon passage, will NOT go into effect for 180 days.

In this Episode:

Because of all of this, I brought Brandon back and in this episode we discuss:

What does the New York agreement mean for Airbnb hosts?
Who is legal to host in NY?
Does it still make sense to host?
Why is NYC using the advertising law against hosts right now?
When would you need to hire, or not hire a lawyer?
And finally, what happens right after the agreement becomes law?

Settle in, have a little something to eat, and listen, because this is a long episode—but it’s packed full of important legal information that you need to know even if you’re not in New York.

I want to say thank you to Brandon one more time, because like always he provides tons of valuable insight.

Dear hosts, changes are here whether we want them or not. We can resist them, fight them, kick and scream. Or we can surrender, pivot, and move with the flow without resistance. Towards something that might be better. It can be Travel Nurses or something else. You might not see it like that right now, but who knows what life will be on the other side