On January 9, 2022, New York City adopted Local Law 18, also known as the Short-Term Rental Registration Law.

The law requires short-term rental hosts to register with the Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement (OSE), and prohibits booking service platforms (such as Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com, and others) from processing transactions for unregistered short-term rentals.

Starting September 5, 2023, OSE's initial phase of Local Law 18 enforcement will focus on collaborating with the booking platforms to ensure they are using the city's verification system, that all verifications are occurring correctly, and that the platforms stop processing unverified transactions.

Short-term rental hosts are strongly encouraged to abide by all legal requirements that predated Local Law 18, the enforcement of which is ongoing in response to complaints.

Local Law 18, which came into force Tuesday, is so strict it doesn’t just limit how Airbnb operates in the city—it almost bans it entirely for many guests and hosts.

From now on, all short-term rental hosts in New York must register with the city, and only those who live in the place they’re renting—and are present when someone is staying—can qualify. And people can only have two guests.