renting a room in NYC Legally

[Lucile22]

Hi, 

I have a 2 br rent in NYC, I asked the agency if  I can subletting my other room when it's free and the agency asked the owner and he said "Yes, as long as it's all legaly" so I would like to know if there are other thing regulated by law to rent a room in a building when the owner said yes? 

Also this conversation was by email but when I met her, the woman of the agency said that the owner would not appreciate if i turn my room as qn hotel. 

Even if I have the owner permission I am still anxious about the rent and about legality. 

Can you help me ? 

Thank you ! 

[Lilian20]

Good question

[Linda108]

@Lucile22  There is a difference between subletting and having a short term rental.  Subletting is usually more than 30 days and you have a roommate.  In many cities a tenant who is subletting has some has some rights as a tenant.  Short term rental guests do not have the same rights but in some cities there are restrictions about short term rentals.

It is possible that the agency is warning you about short term guests since she references "hotel"  and the owner is responding to a subletting question.  

You need to be sure not to mix up short term rental of your extra room and subletting of your extra room.

[Jennifer--And-My-Brother0]

How can it be a hotel if you are living there as well?   

[Delphine-And-Michael0]

Sounds like they are using the term hotel as not to allow “transient rentals”, you should get in writing from your landlord that they are allowing “transient rentals” not just subletting.  Also there was a court case where a room mate had a transient rental that was fined by the judge stating that you must share the whole space of the apartment the guest must be allowed access to all rooms.

As Linda said they are probably using the term hotel to equate to “transient rentals”

[Delphine-And-Michael0]

I found the case on CNET search for “NY official: Airbnb stay illegal; host fined $2,400“

at the end of the article the judge talks about sharing as a member of the household.

[Jennifer--And-My-Brother0]

None of the bedrooms lock as demanded by a Department of Buildings inspector but Inspector Chung asked if the guests had access to the common areas - he did not ask if they had access to the other bedrooms and then said you are an illegal hotel. 

They don't tell you that even if you live there, you are still a hotel and that is illegal especially if you do not have sprinklers, a wired fire alarm system and secondary egress. 

The articles pretend it is about the "evil" hotel industry not letting guests save money instead of emphasizing the safety issues - this makes all hosts look bad by design - that we are so greedy that we would put safety behind illegal hosting.  I have stopped hosting and have found it impossible to find a roommate so I am very worried but it doesn't change the fact that I can never host again in this building because of the lack of safety elements.   Also, Inspector Chung said I would still be a hotel if I had monthly roommates unless they were on a lease.  That is terrible news and contradicts what they tell us in the press about having roommates who are not on the lease. 

I am not trying to ruin hosting but I personally cannot do it since the FDNY Inspector Brown said gently and sadly, "It is about safety"  - it's like someone telling you not to drive drunk and not risk killing three babies.   How can you argue with that?

I think some of the condo owners in NYC can legally host because their newer buildings have those safety elements so airbnb hosting belongs to those few hosts.  But a house probably does not have a sprinkler system.

I think NYC is hypocritical and is intentionally not going after every host because there is a benefit to the real estate industry.  I want airbnb to stay because I need the exposure to find subtenants and roommates who want to be on the lease because the other options are no good.   Not only should all hosts register but all GUESTS identities should be filed with NYPD.    I don't see the problem for airbnb letting the city do this since airbnb has already agreed to it in other cities.    It's not a big deal for airbnb to allow it. 

There are so many microaggressions BY GUESTS who are in your HOME and basically know that you are so desperate financially that you would actually let some stranger into your home.  

[Maggie111]

It doesn’t seem to me that you actually have his real permission. Since he put the caveat of “as long as everything is done legally “you must find out what legally means and then maybe you have his permission but that seems like a real NYC way of screwing you