A New York City law seeking to reign in Airbnb’s growth in the city has hit a roadblock, travelmole.com reports.
The short-term rentals platform has won a significant court ruling blocking the city from forcing Airbnb to hand over data on all hosts.
The city sought exact data on the identity of hosts and full addresses of each rental property listed on the platform.
Judge Paul A. Engelmayer placed an injunction on the rule, arguing it violated data protection and the requirement was too broad.
It was set to come into effect from next month.
“The decision today is a huge win for Airbnb and its users, including the thousands of New Yorkers at risk of illegal surveillance who use Airbnb to help make ends meet,” Airbnb announced.
Nevertheless, it is only a temporary reprieve.
“We felt we were well within the law. This is a law to stop landlords from creating de facto hotels, which is unfair and illegal,” noted Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Under current New York City law, a whole apartment can only be rented out for a minimum of 30 days.
A second lawsuit countering the city’s ordinance was filed by HomeAway Inc.
The judge pointed out that New York City has filed 10 subpoenas to Airbnb seeking data on the identity of hosts and other information about their listings, and hosts usually complied with the requests.
The city can go on doing this.
“The city retains its existing investigative tools such as subpoenas, and is at liberty to enhance the resources dedicated to this area if it determines that such serves the public interest,” Judge Engelmayer ruled.
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