Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Oct 06, 2025

A New York City Airbnb has nearly $1M in fines. It hasn't paid any of them, new Bloomberg report says

A New York City Airbnb has nearly $1M in fines. It hasn't paid any of them, new Bloomberg report says

A home in Flushing, Queens, has accumulated nearly $1M in fines for its illegal use as an Airbnb. Now the city is trying to listings just like it.
A New York City home has accumulated nearly $1 million in fines over its illegal use as an Airbnb for years. It's just one of thousands like it.

The home in Flushing, Queens, has been on the city's radar for years, according to a new Bloomberg report, because it illegally housed people in its basement and attic. It has accumulated complaints, violations, and an order to vacate part of the building.

According to Bloomberg, it racked up more fines than nearly any other Airbnb in the city in 2021, and defaulted on more than $984,000 in penalties. The homeowner still hasn't paid those fines, Bloomberg reported.

The house sits at the center of a debate in New York between Airbnb, its hosts, and existing — and pending — short-term rental rules in the city.

Under a new law that goes into effect this spring, short-term rental hosts will have to register with the city, and Airbnb and companies like it won't be allowed to collect booking fees on unregistered properties, Bloomberg reported.

Hosts will have to submit several documents to the city, including a diagram with exit routes, proof the host is a resident of the building, and the number of non-host residents in the building.

For Airbnb and many of its short-term rental hosts, the rules pose a threat to the bottom line.

"Regular New Yorkers should be able to share their home and not be targeted by the city at a time when many families are trying to keep up with the rising cost of living," Nathan Rotman, Airbnb's regional public policy lead, told Bloomberg. "The rules as currently written will prevent the vast majority of New Yorkers from listing their homes, and we urge the administration to work with our host community to support a regulatory framework that helps responsible Hosts and targets illegal hotel operators."

But the city argues that short-term rentals deplete housing stock and push up costs for residents, according to Bloomberg. The city already cracked down on rentals in some cases: In July, Mayor Eric Adams' administration filed a lawsuit to shut down an illegal short-term rental operation.

"Safe, stable, and affordable housing is fundamental to a prosperous city, so we will not allow bad actors to deplete our housing stock and undermine our hospitality sector," Adams said in a press release.

The mayor also blamed fake host profiles on sites like Airbnb used "to deceive and lure unsuspecting guests into paying for substandard lodging at illegal rental listings."

The Queens home is in good company, Bloomberg reported. Of the 29,000 short-term rental listings in the city, about a third of them are listed illegally, according to the Adams administration.

But, even with a large portion of problematic listings and a growing pile of fines, experts say Airbnb hosts can't hide from regulations forever.

"If you're going to be a legitimate ongoing business concern you can't do this," Chris Slowik, a property lawyer and partner at Klein Slowik PLLC, told Bloomberg.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
×