Need help from Airbnb's legal team /Town proposals will ban all STR's/Time is of the essence

[Deborah579]

Hello,  On behalf of 23 Airbnb Owners in a small vacation Town in NY State, we respectfully request immediate assistance from the Airbnb Legal Team. The Town in which we operate our STR's in has proposed a multitude of new "laws" with the intent to put us all out of business. In their Planning Board Minutes, it is stated "this should eliminate most of them". Please, we need help and time is of the essence as their next meeting is on Wednesday, June 14, 2023.  Some of their proposals are: (Most property lots are 40' wide) the proposal is that only houses on lots at the current minimum (100') would be allowed to operate (as in their minutes "this should eliminate most of them"), proposal to tax any STR as a commercial property tax rate instead of at the current residential rate, not allow any kayaks to be included in the house rental, require (view blocking) fences to be erected at the shoreline of each waterfront property, owners must submit a list of every person who will stay at each rental (invasion of privacy), guests at the property cannot have a guest visit (against Constitutional right to peaceful assembly), battery operated smoke alarms must be replaced by hard wired to the panel box and the building inspector must inspect the house (battery operated work fine/this is just a way for the inspector to get into the houses and "bring every house up to the current building code", which for many owners it will be impossible to do), must have commercial grade fire canisters and must be inspected and tagged every year, trash and recycling will no longer be included in the property taxes/owners must now pay extra, registration will be $500 for the first three years; if there is a complaint there is a warning but if there is a second complaint the registration is pulled for 12 months, 30 days to do anything that the building inspector wants done and charge to return and if not done in 30 days registration is pulled, from their minutes "neighbors do not want STS's" but neighbors must be given contact information to call if there is anything that they do not want or like at the STR, etc. The proposals will hit each of the 23 STR's  from so many directions, that is will put each one out of business. Airbnb earlier this week you filed a lawsuit against NY City, we 23 Airbnb Owners need that same type of help in our little vacation town. PLEASE AIRBNB LEGAL DEPARTMENT, WE NEED YOUR HELP! Please contact me and I will identify the specific Town that is forcing us out of business. Thank you! 

[Mar125]

@Deborah579 The only help you could have is from your neighbors. team up with your local hosts and list out the benefits of Airbnb

1. 0 traffic to the schools yet full payment to property taxes. 

2. try persuading city council to establish a permit system or soft ban, since people is gonna do it if full ban. so instead of doing a full ban, try to do a soft ban. 

city council indeed has the power to implement zoning ordinances 

[Sally10]

Smart thinking !

[Frances3408]

@Deborah579. While you are waiting for Airbnb may I suggest you get on the front foot with YOUR town council to ascertain reasons behind some of the changes. Chances are there have been specific complaints eg min block width- maybe guests are using the water in front of neighbours lots to enter with the kayaks. The complaints regime is fair too imo (we have same here).

What regulations/rules are currently in place by your town council re STRs? Are they relying on the state ones? If you dont have any, then that is a problem.

Here in my state of NSW it was a STR free for all until the state stepped in and drafted some regulations. Took a few years but they listened to councils who had specific needs and gave them some carve outs (eg max nights STR). Those states who are yet to have proper STR laws are getting hammered with OTT rules now. Thats not to say local councils arent asking for more but so far its working in NSW as it aligned many standards with renting (eg fire standards- no need to rewire but all working alarms need an annual sign off so legally liable). Due to housing shortages in the cities I can see further restrictions on max nights.

As suggested by @Mar125 you should get together and draft some rules you can all agree on as a middle ground. For example neighbours having contact info for an Airbnb host is a good thing imo, especially if you host offsite. Make sure council knows it can get this host info from listing platforms (they can cant they?). In an emergency (such as bushfire or flooding) do the guests know who to contact?

Regarding the retro changes are there any local businesses who have opened with some grandfathering? If they intend treating you as a business, is this what they have done for other businesses? Are there competing local motels in the area that have lost business to STR? Be aware of who your opponents are.

At the end of the day imo Airbnb were technically powerless to stop any of the laws that came into effect here (our Constitutional rights arent tested here as much) but they did consult with the state, and councils still retain the zoning rights that could one day force STRs to register as businesses.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

[Kristina46]

Welcome to the club. Airbnb is too big to spend legal resources in small towns fighting their little councils. They might fight for larger jurisdictions such as NYC or on the state level. 

Here in Hawaii County (the Big Island of Hawaii) they are proposing WAAAY worse on HOSTED rentals!  This means people who LIVE on site will have to pay $1000 registration fee, submit architectural plans, final electrical and plumbing permits, pay higher property tax, certify that all parking is on site (no matter that our streets are private and not county), notify neighbors 300 feet in every direction. Pay a special fee for being in a non conforming area. And a $10,000 fine for violations! And this is for (wait for it) people RENTING a SPARE BEDROOM in their homes! 

This is going on all over and Airbnb has not even offered a peep in our defense. They have bigger jurisdictions to defend. 

[Sally10]

WOW Insane !

Well I got a crazy one for you here in California with all the wild Fires ( thank you ) climate change deniers! Almost all insurance companies Allstate Famers and so many other have sent out letter 

Dear sir oe madam Due ti the wild fires and climate change we can not insure you anymore!!!! Imagine So most of Home owners are to say the least in shock. Your Governor and senators are trying to put one to gether for all of us to use. Of course rate will double an dits only limited coverage . Time to say goodbye I don't know Babe we will go to Tim Buck to  I can't cry so I'm laughing in shock. what next an Earthquake ?

MT Best to all you Lovely Host