The city’s crackdown on illegal short-term rentals has reached a new venue: the courtroom.
New York City is suing the Incentra Village House in Greenwich Village, the New York Times reported, alleging ownership is illegally providing short-term rental stays to guests. Officials claim the property is not licensed to operate as a hotel — it markets itself as an inn — and violates several fire safety laws.
This is the first lawsuit the city has filed in the wake of Local Law 18, which went into effect two years ago. The law banned short-term rental stays of fewer than 30 days unless the owner is present, gutting services like Airbnb in New York.
One of the rooms at 32 Eighth Avenue is an “illegally created unsafe cellar room,” according to the suit, which is only accessible via a rickety staircase. Incentra, which comprises two townhomes, legally operated as an apartment building until 2023, when city officials allegedly told ownership it couldn’t begin operating as a hotel.
In addition to shutting down the hotel, the city is also seeking to enforce fines and make ownership fix violations. As of Tuesday, Incentra’s website was still up and running
“This lawsuit represents an unwarranted attack on the continuing operation of a lawful, pre-existing historic inn that has been serving the Greenwich Village community for many decades,” said an Incentra lawyer.
Incentra — whose rates range from nearly $400 a night to $1,100 a night, according to its website — filed a lawsuit of its own against the city in February, claiming old records prove the property should be allowed to operate as a hotel.
Local Law 18 mandates that property owners register units with the city. The city will only recognize units as legal if guests can access the entire home and the owner is present throughout the day. Companies such as Airbnb can’t collect fees before checking a host’s registration status.
The legislation has had a chilling effect on the city’s short-term rental industry. There were nearly 11,000 illegal short-term rentals in the city prior to the legislation, which has since been cut down to slightly more than 3,000 approved rental units.
Airbnb and its hosts have consistently pushed for the law to be modified with little success. A bill introduced in November with carveouts for the short-term rental law was all but gutted after a series of amendments to the original legislation.
— Holden Walter-Warner
Read more
Airbnb’s push for a revival gutted by changes in legislation
Landlords file first suits against Airbnb based on NYC’s new short-term rental law
“Airbnbust” rocks New York’s short-term rental landscape
