Post: #76

Looks like more districts are jumping on the ban Airbnb bandwagon, Montreal is next, "Quebec cracks down on Airbnb."

From the article..."the Quebec government is trying to crack down on such rentals. A spokeswoman for Tourisme Quebec says the province is investigating 2,000 people for renting out their homes for short-term stays without a permit. Government agents are even making fake reservation requests to bust repeat offenders, Suzanne Asselin told the Montreal radio station 98.5 FM in an interview. Residents aren’t allowed to advertise online or rent out their apartment on a regular basis, for fewer than 31 days, without registering and paying a $250 fee."

Why does it have to be the cool cities that ban Airbnb? I'm currently staying at an Airbnb rental in Perth, Australia, hasn't been banned here, yet.

Post: #77

(05-26-2013 11:11 PM)scotian Wrote:  Looks like more districts are jumping on the ban Airbnb bandwagon, Montreal is next, "Quebec cracks down on Airbnb."

From the article..."the Quebec government is trying to crack down on such rentals. A spokeswoman for Tourisme Quebec says the province is investigating 2,000 people for renting out their homes for short-term stays without a permit. Government agents are even making fake reservation requests to bust repeat offenders, Suzanne Asselin told the Montreal radio station 98.5 FM in an interview. Residents aren’t allowed to advertise online or rent out their apartment on a regular basis, for fewer than 31 days, without registering and paying a $250 fee."

Why does it have to be the cool cities that ban Airbnb? I'm currently staying at an Airbnb rental in Perth, Australia, hasn't been banned here, yet.

Cities with huge, established Hotel chains will be the first to ban AirBnB. Follow the money - who are the competitors here?

Post: #78

(05-26-2013 02:07 PM)Handsome Creepy Eel Wrote:  What G is saying, I believe, is that banning some harmful but not critical things inevitably leads to a slippery slope of bullshit where progressively less important and more inane things are banned just for shits and giggles.

Exactly.

It is all great and all until they ban something that you like.

The smoking ban should have been handled by the Free Market.

All the guys that are too frail to handle a little smoke could have hung out with a bunch of other guys too frail to handle a little smoke in bars with zero girls.

Those bars could also serve no booze and close at 8pm.

Wait, that sounds like California post-smoking ban, doesn't it?

Post: #79

Post: #80

My boy just rented a place in NY on airbnb a couple weeks ago.

Post: #81

(05-21-2013 02:36 PM)NY Digital Wrote:  Oversea server + Bitcoin = Profit $$$

Business idea in the making guys... anyone down?

not a half bad idea...

Post: #82

(05-24-2013 11:19 PM)Timoteo Wrote:  

(05-24-2013 10:11 PM)thegmanifesto Wrote:  

(05-24-2013 04:12 PM)Timoteo Wrote:  

(05-24-2013 04:07 PM)jimukr104 Wrote:  Umm.some of us like the no smoking and other laws that make quality of life better for us locals. Sorry if it means it cost more for pussy hounds visiting lol.

I appreciate the smoking ban also. I like being able to go out and not have my eyes and throat irritated by the smoke, and not having my clothes smell of it when I return home. And it isn't as if smokers can't light up anywhere - they can step outside, and establishments that can afford it can create an enclosed smoking section indoors (which I know is costly, so most can't do it). Bottom line, smokers won't stop going out, and they always find a way to get their smoke on...

Protection for the weak comes with a loss of freedom for the strong.

If you dislike the smoking ban, then don't complain when Airbnb is banned.

Or anything else you enjoy.

You can't have it both ways (well some do).

I'm weak because I don't smoke, or like cigarette smoke? HA HA!

Bloomberg lost on his attempt to limit drink sizes, but I think he appealed. Stay tuned.

I'm not harmed by his attacks on Airbnb, because I live here. And apparently guys are still booking accommodations, so we'll see what happens there too.

His ban on trans-fats aren't that big a deal either, because desserts were exempted from the law.

The operative word here is 'ban.' Whatever happened to personal responsibility? Ah, because that didn't generate income or buy votes. Funny how it used to be freedom of your own choice but it's quickly becoming freedom only to the 'choices' of others. And if you don't like something, move to places or run in circles with like minded folk. So you live there and you aren't affected means you don't much care. Again, wait until it's something that you do care for.

Post: #83

(08-23-2013 02:55 PM)InternationPlayboy Wrote:  My boy just rented a place in NY on airbnb a couple weeks ago.

I've used AirBNB twice in NYC since this "ban" was put into place.

Post: #84

The hype over this ban has died down a lot. I haven't heard of any more host being hammered by NYC govt agencies lately. However, now that the cat is out of the bag, landlords and co-op/condo boards(in Manhattan especially) are extra vigilant looking for any Airbnb host on their properties. Airbnb apt's in Manhattan are more scarcer and expensive as a result.

Post: #85

I have a friend with an empty condo in Miami, I suggested AirBnB, he said he just received a letter from the city stating rentals for under 6 months are now illegal. I imagine the hotel lobby will attempt to replicate the NYC in most of the major cities.

Post: #86

(08-25-2013 10:26 PM)LowerCaseG Wrote:  I have a friend with an empty condo in Miami, I suggested AirBnB, he said he just received a letter from the city stating rentals for under 6 months are now illegal. I imagine the hotel lobby will attempt to replicate the NYC in most of the major cities.

Playing the devil's advocate.

If you are busting your ass paying high rent/mortgage for a fly apartment/condo. The last thing you want is for your neighbor to turn his apartment into a flop house. Until very recently airbnb did not even required ID from their guest.

Post: #87

(05-26-2013 07:22 AM)Aliblahba Wrote:  I couldn't imagine paying $5K for an apartment in Manhattan and having a neighbor letting grungy backpackers stay next door. This law is cleaning up NYC, and if I was there, I'd vote for the mayor. He's Democrat.

The mayor is a Republican turned Independent brah

Post: #88

(05-22-2013 01:42 AM)McQueensPlayboyRules Wrote:  There should be a law about making stupid laws.

-Can't drink big gulps (NYC)? Check

Brah big gulps are legal in NYC.

Bloomberg's soda law did not go through.

Post: #89

NY Attorney General Subpoenas Airbnb for Info on 225K Users


http://www.wired.com/business/2013/10/ai...co12853894


As part of an investigation into illegal use of Airbnb — the web service that lets you pay to stay wherever someone else has a free room — New York’s attorney general has subpoenaed personal information on 225,000 state residents who use the short-term housing marketplace.

The subpoena is reportedly part of an effort to crack down on landlords who evict tenants in order to rent their former units on Airbnb. Reports say that the state attorney general is also looking to punish absentee tenants who are gone most of the year, using their apartments mainly to generate income via Airbnb.

“A drunk European for one week is one thing,” a law enforcement source told the New York Daily News. “If you have to live with it 40 weeks a year, that’s a big difference.”

In the city of New York, Airbnb has been involved in a protracted battle over the legality of using its service. A New York law bans rentals for less than 30 days if the owner is not around. Airbnb says the law is clearly intended to stop illegal hotels, not peer-to-peer sharing, and it won an apparent victory last month when a city board reversed a fine against Airbnb user Nigel Warren. But that case concerned sharing an apartment via Airbnb while one of the lessees was home, so it could still be deemed illegal to rent an unoccupied apartment via Airbnb, as is commonly done.

Airbnb has tried to get out in front of New York regulatory issues by offering to collect hotel tax on its rentals. But government officials don’t seem interested in being co-opted, and Airbnb now says the state attorney general is going too far.

“Even the politicians who wrote the original law agree it was never designed to target regular people who occasionally share their homes,” an Airbnb statement reads. “We are concerned that this is an unreasonably broad government demand for user data and we remain committed to protecting our users’ privacy.”

The company could not be reached for comment on whether it plans to fight the subpoena. But clearly its struggles with Gotham’s city and state regulators will continue for a while longer.

Post: #90

wtf. I just paid for an apartment near Times Square for a week.

Post: #91

Tribeca artist may be evicted after allegedly posting rent-stabilized loft on Airbnb

For nine months, her landlord claims, Hickey-Hulme rented the apartment, charging $250 per

night, $1,750 per week or $4,500 per month for a space that she rents for $1,463.79 a month.

When confronted in April 2013 with the ad, Hickey-Hulme yanked it off the Airbnb site and began ducking eviction notices, the landlord charged.

Peluso said Hickey-Hulme violated state rent laws that forbid tenants from renting their stabilized apartments for less than 30 days unless they continue to occupy them with their subtenants. The landlord — the Robert Moskowitz Children’s Family Trust — also wants the court to determine how much she got in “unjust enrichment” and to award them that amount.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/trib...z34GKUgWkc

Post: #92

"Unjust enrichment"? Lol. Only in Manhattan.

Post: #93

Well unjust enrichment is a well known common-law theory of recovery in contract law. However, it makes me think what the landlord really objects to is the lack of revenue sharing.

Post: #94

Fortunately it seems like AirBNB has a lot of money so I am sure they are hiring good lobbyists. This whole thing is BS and not about protecting consumers. The hotel industry already is established with politicians so of course they will do whatever they are told. Eventually AirBNB will go public or get bought out by a large hotel chain and then all this shit will completely die down.