A 2010 law involving property rentals is the fuel to State Attorney Eric Schneiderman’s fire and the leverage being used to probe Airbnb for user data. Airbnb has been given until Monday to comply with the subpoena.
A spokesperson for Airbnb has called the demand “unreasonably broad”. The online company, which matches travelers with people looking to rent out their units for short periods of time, holds that rental laws do not cover the type of business that Airbnb occupies.
New York declared war on th online company late last year holding that the users should be held accountable for hotel taxes. Landlords have received violations which could rack up to $40,000 for running illegal transient hotels by Special Enforcement Officers of the state.
There are roughly 15,000 current NYC Airbnb users who will be included on the state demanded spreadsheet. The state will be reviewing addresses, dates and durations of bookings, and the revenue bookings have generated.
Users could face the penalties of excessive fines if found to be running a transient hotel through Airbnb.
