Thousands of Airbnb rentals in the Big Apple face being delisted Tuesday because the city has dragged its feet on verifying new rules that go into effect after Labor Day, according to a report.
The city forced owners that use home-sharing sites like Airbnb and Vrbo to apply for a license by Sept. 5 to insure they are complying with strict occupancy regulations and building codes.
However, the city’s Office of Special Enforcement, which is charged with handing out licenses and regulating the home sharing industry, has approved just 257 rental host registrations out of 3,250 applications, according to Bloomberg.
The backlog has left Airbnb owners like Ilan Rabinovitch scrambling to placate frantic callers who have booked stays at his Upper West Side brownstone through the end of the year.
“I’m like, I don’t know, I’ll let you know if I ever get approved,” he told Bloomberg.
Airbnb owners who don’t acquire a license face fines of up to $5,000.
The home-sharing giant has been fighting with the NYC – and other cities across the country for years – over regulatory issues.
In New York, hosts are not allowed to rent out their homes on the platform for less than 30 days unless the permanent tenant is also at the residence.
City officials say that Airbnb and other home sharing sites including VRBO abuse the system, renting out entire buildings or a good chunk of the units to tourists without regard to the 30-day rule.
The city’s Office of Special Enforcement did not respond for comment to Bloomberg.
Currently, there are 7,500 rental units that do not meet the requirement for a license and will likely disappear from Airbnb, according to the report which cites data market analytics firm AirDNA.
More than half of those units are among the most popular Airbnb rentals in New York, accounting for 40% of Airbnb income in New York City, AirDNA data shows, according to the report.
AirDNA estimates that only 9,500 of Airbnbs 23,000 listings in New York are legal, according to the report.
Airbnb has sued the city over the regulation.