Enforcement

The Short-Term Rental Registration Law (Local Law 18 of 2022) contained significant new penalties for booking services and hosts, but the main ways that the law combats illegal short-term rentals are through prevention and education.  Here are the ways that OSE is using Local Law 18 to protect the City’s housing stock, residents, and guests.

Prevention

One of the two main ways the Short-Term Rental Registration Law combats illegal short-term rentals is by ensuring that online booking services are verifying that a listing is either legally exempt or validly registered before processing a transaction for a short-term rental.  OSE worked collaboratively with booking services to build and deploy the verification software.  OSE began with the major booking sites, and has continued to monitor the industry for other booking services to ensure they are in compliance with LL18 and other New York City laws.  These efforts have prevented thousands of listings offering illegal transactions from continuing to operate illegally, and prevents new illegal listings from generating rentals on these sites. 

Education

The other main method of combatting illegal short-term rentals is host education.  The laws governing short-term rentals have often been misunderstood by hosts, even those who may have believed they were following the law and operating legally. To obtain a registration, an applicant must demonstrate they are hosting in the unit they live in and that their listings offer a legal short-term rental. Throughout the registration process, hosts get feedback on the legality of their short-term rentals and are given a chance to make any corrections needed to host in compliance with the city’s rules and laws.  This has resulted in thousands of hosts being approved for registration, and thousands more whose intended rentals were not legal and who declined to pursue their applications once OSE notified them their applications would be denied without correction.

Registration Data Release

OSE has released a dataset of all registrations, their statuses, the address, and associated listings.  The data will help prevent illegal short-term rentals by giving guests the opportunity to check whether the listing they want to book is validly registered.  Similarly, neighbors and interested community members can check to make sure short-term rentals in their community are validly registered.

Read more about the Short-Term Rental Registration Dataset

Monitoring and Warning

OSE estimated that as of early June 2025, approximately 20% of registered listings were offering illegal occupancy.  OSE has begun issuing warning notices to the registered hosts,  indicating that potential consequences of reverting to illegal offerings could including one or more of the following: 1) inspections of the registered unit; 2) the issuance of administrative summonses and potential fines; 3) revocation of the registration; and 4) denial of any future renewal applications.  OSE will continue to monitor registered listings to ensure hosts comply with the laws and rules governing short-term rentals.

Inspection and Issuance of Summonses

OSE has continued its traditional field inspections based on complaints, and has issued summonses when illegal conditions were found. As OSE continues to monitor registered listings, it may also conduct proactive inspections when a listing is observed to offer an illegal rental.

Revocation

OSE has commenced a pilot revocation program.  In late April 2025, OSE began issuing Notices of Intent to Revoke to registered hosts who OSE determined were in violation of short-term rental laws and rules.  Registered hosts will receive the notice, which will include all the reasons OSE seeks to revoke, plus the penalties OSE is seeking for the alleged illegal conduct.  Hosts will be given the chance to defend themselves, initially in conversation with OSE, or ultimately in court if OSE proceeds to filing a petition for revocation and penalties.  These cases will be brought either in the Trials Division of New York City’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings or in New York State Supreme Court.

Read the rules regarding what can be a reason for revocation

Denial of Renewal Applications

Under the rules of the registration program, OSE may refuse to approve a renewal application where the applicant has committed acts that are a basis for revocation.   Renewal applications are expected to begin in October 2026.