Report Finds Many San Francisco Airbnb Hosts Not Following Rules
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – A new report finds many San Francisco residents who post their homes on Airbnb and similar websites are not following city rules on short-term rentals.
The rules require all short-term rental hosts to register with the city and meet certain requirements. According to the Board of Supervisors Budget and Legislative Analyst (.pdf), only about 1,600 of the estimated 7,000 properties of Airbnb have registered with the city.
Also, city regulations prohibit a host who doesn't live at the rental from renting a space more than 90 nights a year. The report found 26 percent of such listings violated that policy.
Supervisor David Campos, who has sought additional short-term rental regulations, commissioned the report.
"Airbnb recently announced that it would voluntarily remove hosts on their site who list multiple units. This report shows that this would only address one small sliver of the problem. Furthermore, these findings demonstrate conclusively that the idea Airbnb could be self-regulated is dead on arrival," Campos said in a statement Friday.
Airbnb contends the report mischaracterizes some information.
