Court win for city vs. Airbnb

ALBANY — A Manhattan judge gave the city a partial win over Airbnb — ordering the homesharing site to hand over some of its user data as officials investigate potentially illegal rentals.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice James d’Auguste ordered the company last Thursday to hand over information about rental transactions in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens dating to 2011, the New York Law Journal first reported.

D’Auguste determined the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement was within its rights to request the documents as it seeks to determine whether certain hosts have broken the law, but he limited the scope of the city’s subpoenas.

“The decision makes clear to all online platforms that [the Office of Special Enforcement] is entitled to evidence related to illegal short-term rentals,” Christian Klossner, the agency’s executive director, told the Law Journal.

Critics claim the service leads some landlords to turn properties into de facto hotels, unfairly takes units off the market and adds to high housing costs and overcrowding.

Michael McKee, the treasurer of TenantsPAC, called the decision a “partial step forward.”

“Airbnb has done everything possible to prevent turning over data to the city that would make it possible to crack down on illegal hotels,” McKee told the Daily News on Monday. “They have spent million of dollars on this lawsuit to prevent the city from getting the data that would make it possible to enforce the law.”

In 2016, New York made it illegal for people to list entire apartments on Airbnb and similar sites for periods of less than 30 days. The city has been battling the industry since, arguing it adversely affects housing stock.