Do you know it is illegal to rent an apartment for a short vacation in New York City? I'm not sure about the specific conditions but this was information that came to light when I started to search accommodation online for a planned visit in September.
I gather the law is a response to demand from apartment complex owners who view their properties as lowered in value by the flow of transient visitors. I imagine the hotel industry would also be in favour of such laws to protect their high priced accommodation business.
Anyway, despite this law, online accommodation services list literally thousands of apartments in New York City for vacation rentals.
My visit to New York is to link up with friends CZ and CW who will be on their way back to Sydney following a vacation with relatives in Canada. The three of us will splurge on a fortnight of Broadway theatre attendance.
When I told them of my 'discovery' of this ban on vacation rentals both shrugged their shoulders. Oh yes, they know it is illegal but everybody does it, they told me, so of course we will too.
The online search is proving interesting. I will post updates shortly.
I can't believe it it's definitely unusual situation. Why?
ReplyDeleteApparently it is pressure by owners corporations, Gosia, to maintain the value of their property which they see as devalued if units are occupied by short term vacationers.
DeleteAre you looking into 'airbnb' Victor? I used them two years ago whilst travelling to US. Got a great one bedder in Chelsea whilst staying in New York. Well worth living like the locals.
ReplyDeleteWe have looked at 'airbnb' a lot Allan. It is a great site although we ended up booking a property from another site for reasons I'll explain in another post.
DeleteHmmm...that's good to know. I have a conference in New York this year and am taking a bunch of my grad students. I had planned to rent an apartment but this throws a spanner in the works.
ReplyDeleteAdRad; it appears to be a law honoured in its breach. The various online rental sites list thousands of apartments in NYC for vacation rental by the day and the week.
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