New York City Cracking Down on Small Airbnbs

This article was originally published on QZ.com.

Shortly after Nan Doyle stepped out for brunch on Labor Day, three men with badges rang the bell to her apartment in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood.

Doyle’s Airbnb guest answered. He was staying with her in the three-story brownstone she bought with her husband in 1998. The badged men asked if they could speak with the owner and, when the guest said she was out, they asked whether he was renting the apartment. The man said yes, he and his family had booked it through Airbnb. The badged men then asked if they could enter to inspect the building’s sprinkler system, which they said might violate New York City’s building codes. When the Airbnb guest refused, they wrote out four civil summonses. Continue reading “New York City Cracking Down on Small Airbnbs”