A user of the rental accommodation site was fined 2,400 dollars for violating the hotel law.
THE INFO. New York justice on Tuesday sentenced Nigel Warren, a private individual, to a fine of 2,400 dollars (approximately 1,900 euros) for having rented part of his accommodation on the Airbnb rental site. A decision which constitutes a first and which could set a precedent in the United States. Decryption.
What is Airbnb? This is a site that allows you to rent accommodation from individuals, anywhere in the world, for one or more nights. The portal, created by Americans Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia in 2008, offers more than 300,000 ads in 33,000 cities and 192 countries. For the record, the company was partly financed by an investment fund which includes the American Ashton Kutcher in its capital.
Why is this illegal? Tenant, Nigel Warren sublet his apartment to a young Russian woman in New York’s East Village neighborhood, for $ 300 for three nights. However, according to a law of 2010, individuals cannot earn income from a rental of less than 29 days, unless they declare themselves hoteliers or be present in the apartment during the rental.
What does Airbnb think? The American site had dispatched a lawyer to defend its user, in vain. “This move goes against the original intent of the New York law,” Airbnb said in a statement. For the start-up, it shows that it’s “difficult for hosts and businesses like ours to follow laws that weren’t meant for those trying to make ends meet.” The statement also called for a change in the law for “guests who occasionally rent their homes (…) and who are not illegal hotels”.
And in France ? There is no minimum rental period for private homes in French law. On paper, Airbnb’s ads in France are therefore not illegal. But according to the daily the echoes, the City of Paris is currently studying an adaptation of its rental rules due to the proliferation of advertisements like those of Airbnb.
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