Pol wants city Airbnb registrations

The city would crack down on “illegal” rentals from Airbnb and similar sites — a bid to help the ailing hotel business — under a new bill from Councilman Ben Kallos (D-Manhattan).

His legislation would require users of Airbnb and other platforms to register their rentals with the city.

For rentals of less than 30 days, state law requires hosts to be on premises at the same time as their renters.

While the mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement is charged with implementing the law, it has been “nearly impossible” to do so, Kallos says, due to legal challenges. That’s where his bill comes in. By requiring renters to register with the city before offerings are advertised online, the city would be able to reject them in advance. Failure to comply would result in steep fines.

Kallos expects thousands of units to go off the short-term-rental market as a result — paving the way for hotels to start recouping losses from the pandemic.

The bill “would obliterate anything that wasn’t a legitimate Airbnb,” Kallos told the Daily News on Tuesday.

He also said landlords would be pressured to put “thousands and thousands” of units currently used for Airbnb rentals back on the housing market.

“We can’t prime the pump for hotels if everyone is just renting Airbnbs,” Kallos said. “We need tourists using hotels and Airbnb [units] going back to being affordable housing for everyday New Yorkers.”

Airbnb, the subject of intense pushback from local lawmakers for years, stated it was “disappointing to see Councilman Kallos propose legislation to limit tourism instead of expanding it.”