DOB Hits Landlords of Illegal Hotels with $285K in Fines

The DOB recently issued 43 violations and $285,375 in penalties against landlords for illegal transient use of 11 different buildings. Although the city has long prohibited renting out apartments as hotels, the rise of vacation rental sites such as Airbnb and Homeaway.com have driven a corresponding increase in enforcement against illegal short-term sublets from city agencies.

The state legislature banned renting out residential units for less than 30 days in 2010. Then in 2016, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a new law that made it illegal even to advertise apartment rentals of 30 days or less. In the four years since Mayor Bill de Blasio took office, the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement (OSE) has paid more attention to short-term rentals. And the mayor recently signed a new city law that will require home-sharing companies to provide information about hosts and their rentals to OSE, beginning in February 2019.