In New York state, the law is clear. Nobody can rent an apartment for fewer than 30 days. There are two good reasons for that.
First, when you have a limited supply of apartments, and unlimited demand for those apartments, turning some apartments into hotels makes the remaining ones even more expensive. Sure, the city should build more apartments. But absent effective law enforcement, there's no guarantee that Airbnb users won't turn those into hotel rooms, too.
Second, New Yorkers and residents of other cities have the right to live in buildings with neighbors, not Dutch tourists with wheelie bags.
Airbnb's argument is that the company actually helps people deal with ever-rising rents, by allowing them to provide lodging from time to time for a little extra money.
This is economic nonsense. A market-rate tenant in New York may find he can make some extra money renting out his pad — until his landlord just finds it's easier to cut out the middleman. The displaced tenant will have a hard time finding a new apartment when a landlord can rent that apartment out by the night at three times the monthly rate.
A rent-regulated tenant in New York, too, may find himself with some extra cash thanks to Airbnb. But it is immoral for a renter who benefits from a law that restricts the price of his own rent to turn around and break a different law to earn a profit. Though the law differs from city to city and state to state, what New York, at least, needs, isn't a new law, but enforcement of the old one.
In a three-year study published last year, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman found that 72 percent of Airbnb listings are for illegal rentals.
Don't blame Airbnb for blurring the legal distinction between apartments and hotels. Blame state and local politicians who let it.
This piece originally appeared in New York Times Room for Debate