[notmyaccount]

I mean declaring a property to be short term rentable is much harder than it ought to be. This is what the hotel association NYC has spent years lobbying for. So something new like AirBnB cannot harm their market.

AirBnb definitely solves a problem and generally at a much cheaper price. We need to update our laws to let it do that in a sustainable manner.

Edit: Corrected rentable to short-term rentable

[gamblor956]

I mean declaring a property to be rentable is much harder than it ought to be. This is what the hotel association NYC has spent years lobbying for. So something new like AirBnB cannot harm their market.

Simply false. These are the steps involved in "declaring" your property to be rentable:

Step 1a: If you rent your place, ask your landlord for permission. Step 1b: If you live in a condo building, ask your condo association for permission. Step 1c: If you own your own house, ask your spouse for permission.

Step 2: Put an ad on Craigslist advertising your rental.

Step 3: There is no step 3.

Declaring a property to be rentable is literally a trivial exercise unless you're going for short-term (aka "transient" or "hotel") rentals.

[notmyaccount]

Totally my bad. I used the wrong word rentable, whereas I meant to write short-term rentals.

For example, if I own a single-family home, my ability to rent it out is restricted by zoning rules. I would have to look up the Certificate of Occupancy and potentially make changes if I intended to rent my place out. It could even mean involving an architect because the building would have to meet the structural requirements for a rooming house. There are lots of redtapes.

[duxup]

Well renting, and a hotel type "renting" are way way different.

I'm not really sure there is a "problem" here. It's the locals who get to decide if their laws need updating or not. I'm willing to be a ton of Airbnb guests is not what the locals want.