Like other new technologies that make life easier for users, Airbnb — the online service that helps people rent out their homes or apartments — is bringing some major disruption to New York.
Some of this is welcome. Some is not so Âwelcome.
We had a good example recently, when a Manhattan Housing Court judge sided with an Airbnb user over her landlord. Her name is Kimberly Freeman, and her landlord had tried to evict her for subletting her apartment via Airbnb.
The judge ruled the city’s Multiple Dwelling Law, which covers illegal hotel renting, applies only to landlords — not tenants. He further declared that Freeman’s offense wasn’t so great that she should be subject to eviction without prior warning.
Now, if the judge is right with regard to the hotel law, the city statute definitely needs clarification. But given that Freeman knew she was violating her lease by subletting her apartment, blocking her eviction strikes us as an infringement on landlord property rights.
Then again, a major reason a market exists for Airbnb here is New York’s tight and expensive rental market. A New Yorker who wants to go on vacation for a month not only has to save money for the trip but also cover the rent while he or she is gone.
Subletting is a natural temptation. Take Kimberly Freeman: The $200 a night she made from guests using her two-bedroom apartment made a major dent in her $2,350-a-month rent.
Which gets back to Airbnb’s future in Gotham. We continue to believe New York City needs to find ways to accommodate new technologies that bring real benefits to people who use them.
After all, how can you claim to be a high-tech city if you close the door to new technology?
At the same time, Airbnb must do much more in the way of background checks, not only so people can rent out their apartments with confidence but so the others in their building need not worry about who the neighbor’s letting in.
Airbnb also needs to do more to stop those who use their service from running illegal hotels.
Our guess is that strengthening the rights of owners to enforce agreements is the best path to making progress on both.