TOURISM

New York finds Airbnb listings mostly illegal

New York has scrutinized 'sharing economy' pioneer Airbnb, finding most of its housing rentals in breach of laws. It says commercial operators dominate a service meant to help homeowners earn an extra buck.

New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman released a report Thursday stating that 72 percent of Airbnb's home rentals in the city were illegal, violating zoning and other laws.

The report shows that a small number of commercial operators rather than regular New Yorkers account for a third of the rentals on offer, and a similar share of revenue.

"This report raises serious concerns about the proliferation of illegal hotels and the impact of Airbnb and sites like it on the City of New York," Schneiderman said.

Sharing economy - Bartering instead of buying

Airbnb is a rising star of the so-called sharing economy - mostly Internet startups that have set out to break monopolies and seek to empower individuals. The housing rental service aims to give people the chance to earn extra money by providing short-term accommodation to tourists and visitors, mainly in the bigger cities of North America and Europe.

Schneiderman's analysis is based on 497,322 Airbnb transactions for stays between January 2010 and June 2014.

Illegal hotels

The report says only 6 percent of Airbnb hosts are responsible for 36 percent of private short-term bookings and make 37 percent of the revenue - or $168 million (131 million euros).

The number of units they administer range from three to more than one hundred. The survey mentioned one landlord as an example who owned 272 units that had earned him $6.8 million and Airbnb $800,000 in commission fees.

In addition, some 41 percent of the hosts were living in high-profile neighborhoods like Greenwich Village, while only about 3 percent of the revenue was garnered in low-income areas such as Queens and the Bronx, the report stated.

Schneiderman announced his office had launched a program "aimed at aggressively tackling this problem" and would work to "track and shut down illegal hotels."

Mounting criticism

In a statement responding to the report, Airbnb said it was ready to "stop bad actors and protect regular people who simply want to share the home in which they live."

At the same time, it contested the accuracy of the report, saying it relied on "incomplete and outdated information."

"For example, the findings do not account for the more than 2,000 listings we have already removed from our community in New York," the company said.

In recent months, sharing economy startups, like Airbnb and taxi service Uber, have come undermounting criticism for avoiding regulation and taxes. In Germany, for example, Uber is currently engaged in a legal battle, after regular taxi companies won a court injunction banning its car-sharing service.

uhe/sgb (dpa, www.ag.ny.gov)    dw de