What are the risks of using Airbnb in New York?

7/28/2013 2:30:47 PM

The exemption as it stands only applies if the owner is home – ie if you’re sharing a room of theirs. This is what AirBNB is arguing on behalf of a recent host who was fined for this – his room-mate was home at the time.

The law itself governs the hosts – they’re entitled to host you if they’re at home. So as a guest, you’d expect them to be home as well, under the current law. If they then aren’t there, you could argue you weren’t expecting that. However, if you exchange emails and know that you’re going to a place where the host isn’t there at the same time (eg a whole apartment), then you might be in some hot water, although my understanding is that it’s only the hosts that are getting pinged at present.

My thought is like this: if you were staying at a hotel that didn’t have a license, you don’t know that, you’d assume they do. If it turns out their license had expired, you’d be fine (reasonable assumption). However, if you knew in advance that the hotel had no license…I’m no lawyer, but that may be a different story.

As the linked article points to, however, there are currently loads of listings on AirBNB, all flouting that law…

If it’s just you and you’ve got some time, I’d consider the YHA. It’s a nice hostel, very central, and completely legit 🙂

Credit:stackoverflow.com‘

About me

Hello,My name is Aparna Patel,I’m a Travel Blogger and Photographer who travel the world full-time with my hubby.I like to share my travel experience.

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