Online rental marketplace Airbnb will appear in court on Tuesday against New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman regarding website users who illegally rent out apartments.
Credit: Airbnb
Airbnb, the online home-rental marketplace, will appear in court on Tuesday against New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman regarding website users who illegally rent out apartments.
Nearly two-thirds of New York City apartments recently listed on Airbnb were illegal sublets, according to an affidavit from the state Attorney General’s office.
The affidavit, which is expected to be filed in court on Monday by Schneiderman’s office, shows nearly 63.6 percent of Airbnb’s 19,500-plus city offerings for January 31 cover an “entire apartment.”
More than 200 of the offerings came from just five hosts, according to the affidavit.
Schneiderman opened an investigation last year into whether hosts on Airbnb, a Silicon Valley venture capital-backed website that lets people put up spare rooms or couches for rent, are breaking a 2010 law that prohibits renters from subletting their room for less than 30 days.
Schneiderman’s office first demanded in August that the company turn over records of all Airbnb hosts in New York State. State prosecutors issued a subpoena in October after failing to obtain the records, despite several rounds of negotiations with Airbnb lawyers. Airbnb then went to court to block the subpoena.
A group led by private equity firm TPG Capital Management LP has agreed to invest $450 million in Airbnb, valuing the online home-rental marketplace at $10 billion, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.
