Skip to main content

Chicago passes restrictions on Airbnb, but some don’t see them as enough

airbnb amsterdam london regulations
gyddik/123RF.com
New York City might not be receptive to Airbnb’s short-term rentals, but Chicago sure seems to be. The city passed a measure that would allow the company to advertise such rentals, so long as Airbnb follows certain rules, reported the Chicago Tribune.

The new restrictions depend on the size of the building, with buildings containing five units or less needing to be listed one at a time. This can be changed if you can persuade the City Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection that you will suffer “an extraordinary burden” from listing one unit at a time, the city has the power to give you an exception. Larger buildings, meanwhile, can only utilize the service for six apartments or 25 percent of the total, whichever figure is less.

Interestingly, areas of Chicago with single-family homes can start petitions to either ban short-term rentals in their precincts or restrict such rentals to the “primary residences” of the listed properties. If these petitions get signatures from at least 25 percent of registered voters in their neck of the woods, the area’s alderman can then go to the City Council and have the petitions enacted as ordinances for four years. In a very meta sort of way, those petitions can themselves be petitioned to be overturned.

As for the financials, each Airbnb rental will be accessed a 4-percent tax that will fund services for homeless people. Furthermore, any Chicago address listed on Airbnb will carry a $60 charge, with the charge going to enforcing the new set of rules. Finally, in order to operate in Chicago, Airbnb will need to cough up $10,000. All of these fees will be accessed to Airbnb and not to people listing their properties on the service.

Critics of the new restrictions are wary of Chicago’s ability to enforce them. The city will have inspectors checking out possible violators, with Airbnb responsible for removing them from the site, but such investigations might be inconsistent and not thoroughly vetted. Furthermore, some argue that Chicago should have assessed higher fees to Airbnb, seeing how the company is valued at billions of dollars. Finally, critics accused Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel of not taking a firmer stance against Airbnb.

For Airbnb, the good news could not come at a better time, as the company currently faces hostility in New York in the form of a recently passed state senate bill that disallows the advertising of short-term rentals in the state. Governor Andrew Cuomo still needs to sign the bill in order for it to become law, and Airbnb and other entities in the technology industry have vocally opposed the bill.

Editors' Recommendations

Williams Pelegrin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Williams is an avid New York Yankees fan, speaks Spanish, resides in Colorado, and has an affinity for Frosted Flakes. Send…
Many Americans don’t buy EVs because they don’t understand them, says Ford
ford says americans lack knowledge of electric cars vehicle winter testing

EV Myths Busted: Winter Test | Electric Vehicles | Ford

Automakers are introducing more electric cars, but sales remain a drop in the bucket compared to internal-combustion cars. That's a problem for Ford, which is planning to introduce a handful of all-electric models over the next few years. What's missing is education, Ted Cannis, the automaker's head of electrification, wrote in a blog post. People aren't buying electric cars because they just don't understand them, he wrote.

Read more
Audi launches sportier diesels in Europe, but don’t expect them in the U.S.
(L to R) Audi S6 TDI, S7 TDI, S6 Avant TDI

Previous

Next

Read more
Don’t expect to see Apple’s new 16-inch MacBook Pro until 2021
macbook pro t2 coprocessor security issues 2016 touchbar1

The new rumored 16-inch MacBook Pro might not be released this year after all. Instead, it seems as though the new laptop will not arrive at the hands of Apple fans until as late as 2021, according to a fresh note from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo picked up by MacRumors.

Though the well-respected Apple analyst originally predicted that the new "redesigned" MacBooks with 16 or 16.5-inch screen sizes might launch in late 2019, the latest research note now changes the timing. Chinese-to-English translations of Kuo's latest note, from Economic Daily News and Money DJ, point to a disagreement in the new launch timing, but it appears as though he is now suggesting new MacBooks might not come until 2020 at the earliest -- or 2021 at the latest.

Read more