Housing advocates and lawmakers have long cited examples of bad actors operating illegal hotels out of rent-regulated buildings, and have painted Airbnb as an urgent threat to the city’s affordable housing stock. | Getty Airbnb scores a legal victory in its biggest national market

NEW YORK CITY — A federal court decision Thursday blocking a new law that would curb Airbnb in its biggest market marks a significant win for the home-sharing company as it battles regulatory crackdowns throughout the country.

Airbnb — long a foe of many New York lawmakers and affordable housing advocates — filed a lawsuit in August against new city regulations that would require it to turn over host names and addresses to the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement. The company, along with fellow home-sharing platform HomeAway, argued the regulations would violate host privacy.


Judge Paul Engelmayer issued a preliminary injunction against the law Thursday and said the companies are likely to succeed on their challenge that the new requirements violate search and seizure protections under the Fourth Amendment. The ruling represents a unique victory for Airbnb, which has settled similar lawsuits in the past, and comes as several cities around the country have recently passed or are currently considering home-sharing restrictions.

The New York law, which was supposed to go into effect in February, is stalled for the time being. A city law department spokesperson said the city plans to appeal the ruling and “explore all other legal options.” Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday he stands by the law and is confident the city will be successful.

“When a judge does a temporary injunction there is still a whole lot of legal process to be had and we believe we will ultimately prevail,” he said at an unrelated press conference. “I think it’s a good law, I’m comfortable with the law and we’re going to fight for it legally.”

Housing advocates and lawmakers have long cited examples of bad actors operating illegal hotels out of rent-regulated buildings, and have painted Airbnb as an urgent threat to the city’s affordable housing stock as the city endures an ongoing housing crisis. Information the law would provide, they have said, is necessary to help enforcement authorities crack down on abuses.

But in his 52-page ruling, Engelmayer frequently critiqued New York's law as too broad and said the city has not made a convincing case for why it needs blanket disclosure of host data, as opposed to targeted enforcement.

“The City has not cited any decision suggesting that the governmental appropriation of private business records on such a scale, unsupported by individualized suspicion or any tailored justification, qualifies as a reasonable search and seizure,” he wrote.

Airbnb, which has chided regulation efforts in the city as props of the powerful hotel industry, called Thursday’s ruling a “huge win.”

“The court today recognized the fundamental importance of New Yorkers’ constitutional rights to privacy and the sanctity of their own homes,” spokesperson Liz DeBold Fusco said in a statement. The company’s legal counsel characterized the city's law as far wider in scope than home-sharing regulations passed in other cities.

In Santa Monica, where a similar lawsuit filed by the company is ongoing, the city’s home-sharing ordinance requires hosts to register with the city and obtain licenses. A judge denied the company’s request for a preliminary injunction against that law last March.

The company settled with San Francisco in 2017 over a law that requires hosts on short-term rental platforms to register their homes with the city. That measure led to a steep decline in Airbnb listings in the city.

State Sen. Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan), one of the most vocal critics of the company’s presence in New York, said Thursday she was disappointed in the court’s decision.

“Airbnb has made clear time and again that they have no respect for our laws, the rights of landlords, the safety of tenants, or the needs of New Yorkers desperate to find affordable housing,” she said in a statement. “This law is critically important to the city’s efforts to crack down on illegal hotels and to preserve our limited housing stock for real New Yorkers."

At a hotel industry conference in November, City Council speaker Corey Johnson called Airbnb’s lawsuit “frivolous” and said the company should cooperate with the city regulations.

Council spokesperson Jacob Tugendrajch said in a statement Thursday, “We look forward to continuing the fight for this common sense data-driven law.”

With enforcement of the city’s law at the very least delayed, Airbnb is spared for now from regulations that were expected to deliver a significant hit to its New York business. The company has said it’s committed to working with enforcement authorities to help identify and block illegal operators from the platform. But housing advocates are skeptical.

“Despite years of refusing to share data on their illegal listings, Airbnb still claims they will work with the city to crack down on bad actors without having to be forced to do so by regulation,” said Jonathan Westin, executive director of the advocacy group, New York Communities for Change. “Airbnb now has to put their money where their mouth is.”