The problem with the city’s new registration requirement, the company said, is that it provides fines and penalties on Airbnb if the company does block rental listings by non-registered hosts, even though that would be illegal based on existing federal law. The law, passed with a 10-0 vote by the city’s Board of Supervisors, would require Airbnb to make sure that hosts on its platform have registered with the city.
Advertisement
Airbnb is asking a federal judge to prohibit San Francisco from enforcing a measure that would require the company to police the listings on its site.
In a statement sent to Cnet, press secretary for the City Attorney’s Office Matt Dorsey said the new rental law does not punish Airbnb, as the company says it does.
“We believe that creative approaches are still possible and hope that the City will reconsider its current path and work with us towards building a new system that is legal, workable and fair to everyone involved”, the company writes. “Within the previous year, over 200 listings have been removed in San Francisco”.
The report singled out 8,058 units as “impact listings” where homes are rented out for brief periods for more than a third of a year, making them virtual hotels.
In its lawsuit, Airbnb claimed San Francisco had violated the Communications Decency Act, which prevented governments from holding internet platforms liable for content created by their users.
Airbnb has made a decision to sue, arguing that the rules do nothing to fix the onerous registration process and puts San Francisco residents at risk for eviction. AirBnB says in a blog post that several people will be adversely affected by the law, especially those who have been using the company for their short-term rental needs.
The registration process has been described as very confusing; it has been changed every time according to Airbnb.
Officials in San Francisco and other cities worry that rental apartments are being removed from the market by owners who place them on Airbnb, leading to a shortage of available properties for prospective buyers.
Regulatory uncertainty remains one of the last major barriers to a potential initial public offering for Airbnb. “It’s simply a duty to verify information that’s already required for a regulated business activity”. Though AirBnB claims that the new ordinance goes against the Communications Decency Act of 1996, David Campos says that the law is very modest, and AirBnB can not just play its game the way it envisions.
Advertisement
“To comply with the Ordinance, Airbnb would need to remove a substantial number of listings from its site, including listings that otherwise comply with San Francisco law”, the lawsuit stated.
