Airbnb pushes to loosen restrictions on renting in NYC before potential Mamdani admin

Airbnb is making a big push to loosen the regulatory noose around its neck in the Big Apple – before it’s too late and a Mamdani administration potentially takes over.The home-sharing giant wants the City Council to change a 2023 law that effectively shut down most Airbnb listings in the city.Under the proposed legislation, owners of single-family homes would be allowed to offer rentals without the hosts being present for less than 30 days.The city’s limit on guests would also be lifted, from two to four.The new legislation targets Local Law 18, a two year-old bill that has decimated Airbnb and the rest of the short-term rental market in New York City. After faltering earlier this year, the latest bill was quietly amended last week to also undo the existing law’s “unlocked doors provision,” which requires hosts to keep all doors accessible to guests.The proposed legislation stands to affect homeowners in Brooklyn and Queens the most.

Airbnb hosts in those boroughs have said they are financially squeezed by not being able to rent to families and guests who don’t want to share their vacation with a host.A draft bill loosening the Airbnb restrictions was scrapped in February amid strong opposition from the hotel industry and other groups.The same sectors are crying foul again – even as hotel rates in the city have steadily climbed since Local Law 18 was enacted.The new legislation comes “as Airbnb tries to salvage their multi-million dollar campaign to undermine our housing laws before New Yorkers and a new pro-tenant mayor can stop them,” read a statement from Tenants Not Tourists, a coalition of housing advocates that is supported by the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council union.Opponents of the latest bill say Airbnb will later try to go further and free up all hosts — including apartments in Manhattan that have largely disappeared from Airbnb’s platforms.Sign up to receive On The Money by Charlie Gasparino in your inbox every Thursday....