NYC Spars With Hosts Over New Airbnb Rental Laws, 25% drop in nightly rentals, what does this mean for Colorado

I always watch what happens on the coasts to see what is next for Colorado.  Whether it is minimum wage, required sick leave, etc… these all originated from the coasts and migrated to Colorado.  NY’s laws on nightly rentals will soon find their way to Colorado.  The NY law implements some monumental changes that will radically alter the nightly rental landscape and property owners throughout Colorado.

What is in NY new nightly rental law?

The goal of the law is to tackle illegal listings, but it goes much further than that.

1. Local Law 18 launches January 9th and requires hosts to identify themselves to the city. Hosts will get a registration number to display in listings.
2. Sites like Airbnb, VRBO, and Booking.com can’t process transactions without verifying registration status
3. Owners, co-op and condo boards can join list of buildings that prohibit short-term rentals
4. Hosts could be fined as much as $5,000 for noncompliance, and Airbnb could be on the hook for $1,500 per violation.
5. Owners must submit a detailed diagram of the listing, designating which parts will be used for the rental and highlighting fire exits, among other requirements.
6. Tenants who are leasing must also provide a lease, and applicants need to submit a government ID along with documents that show proof of occupancy.

The interesting part of this new law is the fine structure is steep for both owners and companies like VRBO. 

Will these laws be implemented in Colorado?

I could see these same restrictions being put in place in Denver and then ultimately migrating to the mountain towns.  There will no doubt be litigation and based on prior history NY is standing on strong legal footing.  Putting the onus on the listing platforms to help police unauthorized rentals will be interesting to see how it pans out.

The one question I have is if NYC cracks down on nightly rental companies will rentals move to the gray market with sites like Craigslist or Facebook ads?

How will Colorado real estate be impacted from the NY law?

Over 10,000 Airbnb listings for NYC short-term rentals “are likely to disappear” when the new rules go into effect, the Daily News reports, citing an estimate of nearly 40,000 total Airbnb listings in the city from Inside Airbnb, an independent watchdog group.

I would guess that in cities like Denver and throughout the mountain towns, there are also a  considerable number of nightly rentals operating below the radar.  If NYC’s law is implemented in Colorado I suspect there would be a sizable number of nightly rentals facing enforcement action and a decrease in the number of nightly rentals.

Summary

New York’s law is monumental in that it provides an avenue to track nightly rentals with a registration number and require the nightly rental companies to list that number.  Furthermore, the enforcement part of large fines on both property owners and nightly rental companies will give the new laws some bite.  Once the litigation is over in NY (it hasn’t started yet, but it will), similar laws will be implemented throughout Colorado to better control nightly rentals.  This will ultimately reduce the number of nightly rentals substantially and ensure better tax compliance.

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