Hacker News Reader

This is the law in NYC and I still see entire apartments listed on my block every time I check Airbnb. It is very hard to enforce because you need someone to complain, then the police have to catch visitors 'in the act,' and then you have to go through the whole fining and prosecution process.

View on HN

That's interesting that they need someone to complain?

Vancouver just enacted a similar law to Boston's - AirBnbs only allowed in a secondary suite in a primary residence. In exchange for being allowed to continue operating in the city, AirBnb requires a city business license (which is only granted for secondary suites) from all Vancouver BnBs, and forwards the list of all BnBs to the city every month. Then if an address doesn't match up with a business license, the city fines the property owner. If you don't pay, the city takes you or your house to court and you get a nice fat lien on the property.

This doesn't seem to work as well with condos and apartments, though. I think the city has left enforcement up to strata orgs which is probably a mistake?

Place a lien on the property for the cost of the investigation in the event of a guilty verdict and nonpayment of fines.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com