It has been known that there are a lot of tourists that sleep on residential units that they rented through websites like "Airbnb." However, many of these residential rentals are said to be illegal in New York City. That is why inspectors are now eyeing on these Airbnb's to completely shut them out.
According to WNYC, there is a detailed record analysis of a year-and-a-half of illegal hotel inspections. The city is responding actively with all the reports that they are getting. It mainly focuses on neighborhood around Manhattan especially in midtown. However, there are certain parts of the city that they do not get to cover such as Williamsburg and Park Slope. It has been known that short-term rental services are very common around these areas.
The Real Deal reported that it is "illegal in New York City to rent an apartment on Airbnb or any similar services for less than 30 days if the owner is not around."
The law says that it in most cases it is illegal to rent out a place if the owner is not around. However, there are nights that Airbnb lists around 15,000 full homes or apartments around New York City. In a span of one and a half years, inspectors were able to issue 566 citations of short-term rentals for the following booking sites: Airbnb, Booking.com, Portobello Suites, VRBO, Homeaway.com, Tripadvisor, Agoda and Expedia.
There have been 2,684 reports filed during the period. The analysis showed that the inspectors were fairly doing a good job following up and responsive on complaints made to 311. From October 2013 up to April 2015, the NYC was able to receive 1,616 complaints about illegal hotels. During the same span of time inspectors made 2,684 visits for those local rentals that are violating the law.