Making airbnb legal in West New York (WNY), New Jersey

Mark_Lori0
Level 2
West New York, NJ

Making airbnb legal in West New York (WNY), New Jersey

West New York, NJ just passed an ordinance this week that makes short-term rentals of airbnb illegal. West New York, New Jersey attracts guests who visit New York City and we have no hotels in our town. Our Mayor just passed a resolution that effectively makes all airbnb rentals of 30 days or less illegal regardless of whether the property is owner occupied and regardless of the type of building.

I was not at the town meeting, and only learned about it from a summary news article (http://hudsonreporter.com/view/full_story/27534113/article-West-New-York-adopts-ordinance-banning-sh... and http://hudsonreporter.com/view/full_story/27533095/article-West-New-York-to-vote-on-ordinance-bannin...).

 

The full ordinance is here: http://www.westnewyorknj.org/web_content/pdf/ordinances/ord3517.pdf 


What can airbnb do to help WNY hosts provide the town officials with information on the economic benefits the town receives and the potential to implement an occupancy tax which could go to the town? Has anyone seen a forum of other hosts in my town or suggest some other method that we can coordinate a response?  Any thoughts on how to organize?

Thanks,
Mark 

43 Replies 43

We all should get together and confront them or get to an agreement! Can we organize?

I've reached out to airbnb directly to see how they suggest to proceed, as they've dealt with this in other towns.  I just sent them a note last night, so haven't heard back yet.  I'm also hoping they'll be willing to help us get the word out to other WNY hosts - I did a quick search today and found at least 250 listings in town.

Iv Any updates. On when this meeting will take place ?

Elaine173
Level 2
West New York, NJ

Hi

This is Serhat, I went to the meeting last Thursday. Mr. Mayor told us at the end of the meeting that he would meet with the airbnb hosts to talk about this in detail to come up with a plan that would benefit everyone. We started making an email list with phone numbers. If you want to join, please pass me your info.
Thanks

Hi Serhat,

 

I'd be happy to participate.  I've been hosting for around 3 years now, and am sure I can dig up reviews that highlight the economic benefits to the town, i.e. guests mentioning convenience of local markets/restaurants.  Additionally, I've always thought that the town should also directly benefit through an occupancy tax.  If we could get some help from airbnb about how many rentals there are and what occupancy rates/revenue has been, we'd be able to help the town estimate what type of potential income they could see.

 

We're reachable at [personal information hidden for safety reasons - to message each other using the Direct Messaging feature here in the Community Center, hover over the profile photo and click 'Send Message']

 

Thanks so much!

Mark & Lori

Hi Serhat,

Thanks so much for going to the meeting last Thursday!

We are anxious to assist. We've been hosting for around 1 year now, and are sure that the economics benefit the town, local markets & restaurants. We've always thought that the town should direct an occupancy tax. If we could get any updates about the meeting with Mr. Mayor or other, we'd be more than willing to participate.

Rob and Emily

****[personal information hidden for safety reasons - to message each other using the Direct Messaging feature here in the Community Center, hover over the profile photo and click 'Send Message']

 

Hi Serhat,

my name is Eddie and I been hosting in Airbnb for the last 4 months.  This is my information *sensitive information removed* Please let me know what I can do to help in making Airbnb legal again 

thank you 

Tomorrow is election day and Mayor Roque is supporting Airbnb 

Hey! Could you add me to the email list please. I’m looking to host Airbnb in one of my houses in WNY. Thank you. ****

anthony *****

 

 

*[Personal information hidden for safety reasons – in line with the Community Center Guidelines]

Please include me into this email list *sensitive information hidden*

Hi thank you for this information! This is very helpful , I'm new to Airbnb as a host and I just want to make sure I understand, is  weehawjen New Jersey on the list as illegal as well? Thank you!

Cherry,

 

I was only referring to the town of West New York.  Weehawken is a separate town - you 'd have to check with your town to see if they've enacted any rules.

Dear hosts,

 

As a member from San Francisco I'm certain you can arrange something with your cities, but keep in mind that even with new laws that may be created on behalf of short term rentals, they could change over time. San Francisco just ammended it's law to only include properties where the hosts have permanent homes, so no more short term rentals for 2nd homes. Hosts have to be licensed, insured, and if they are renters, they must get written permission from their landlords. Renters living in rent controlled properties, even with landlord approval cannot exceed income that is greater than their monthly rent. Hosts are also limited to short term renting for a maximum 90 days per year when their place is entirely used by the guests unless they themselves own the property (this may have become more restrictive with the new law, but I'm not certain).

 

Before you sit down with your city, you may want to look at what some other cities have already agreed to and find counter arguments for what you do not see as beneficial to yourselves as hosts.  For information, google San Francisco Office of Short Term Rentals. I just found interesting news on the same page. You can see 3 news articles that mention 6,000 hosts being purged from Airbnb this week, because they have remained unlicensed for over 2 years after our initial law was passed. Good luck to you all.

Please let me know how can I assist in this effort. I think it's everyone's interest.