It’s time to say goodbye to Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com and other short-term rental platforms in New York City. 

Short-term rental hosts will now have to register with the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement (OSE) - and that’s not all.    

It’s all thanks to Local Law 18, also known as the Short-Term Rental Registration Law. It passed in January 2022, but as of this week, it’s being enforced.

Moving forward, hosts must live in the places they are renting and be present while their guests are there.  The law also says guests must have full access to your home, which means you technically can’t even have a lock on your bedroom door. The city is cracking down on short-term rentals after complaints of noise, trash and pricing locals out of their own neighborhoods.  Short-term rentals also occupy tens of thousands of spaces as people scramble for places to live in a scarce housing market.   

Corcoran Real Estate agent Jared Seligman says the enforcement of Local Law 18 will have a ripple effect. 

“The Airbnb ban obviously will have an impact on tourism given the lack of affordable hotel options,” Seligman recently told News 12 in a Zoom Interview.  

“Regarding inventory in New York City, many landlords who may have purchased or leased units looking to rent them out on Airbnb may have to consider alternative options, whether it’s long-term leasing their apartments out, or potentially giving up some of these leases or selling their inventory which they purchased to do this. So hopefully it can create a little more inventory for renters on the market and create a slightly more affordable apartment option and availability," said Seligman.

Airbnb said in a statement:  “It has long been our goal to work with New York City to create sensible home-sharing regulations for our Host community, and for the better part of the last decade, we have worked hard to find a path forward. New York City’s new short-term rental rules are a blow to its tourism economy and the thousands of New Yorkers and small businesses in the outer boroughs who rely on home sharing and tourism dollars to help make ends meet. The city is sending a clear message to millions of potential visitors who will now have fewer accommodation options when they visit New York City: you are not welcome.”    This law also technically applies to dog and house sitting, since apartment owners and lease holders are usually not home when these services are being provided.