The legislation was introduced by London Breed, president of the Board of Supervisors. Breed said she initially supported a law that was passed two years ago, which legalized short term rentals. However, she said at the time she stated San Francisco would need to be prepared to revise the law if it wasn’t working. She added there are still challenges.
Under the current law, hosts can rent out housing units as short term rentals. Hosts, who must be registered, have to remain onsite, but only for 90 days annually, if they are not there as onsite as hosts. There are challenges with enforcing the law and there is only a low number of hosts who have registered. As a result, San Francisco is ready to take further action.
“San Francisco may never be done trying to regulate Airbnb.” Aint that the truth. CSaid breaks the story. emilytgreen (@emilytgreen) October 13, 2016
There is a twist to the proposal. It rewards the hosts who have registered. Those who have registered as hosts, and there’s around 1,640 of them, will keep the current caps of 90 days per year for un-hosted rentals of housing units and there are no limits for rentals when they are present in the home.
Breed said the city will live up to its promise to the hosts who have complied with the law and who have already registered.
A spokesperson for Airbnb said the proposal is just another barrier. The spokesperson criticized lawmakers for not fixing the registration system, which they described as broken.
In the past, San Francisco has argued that the responsibility for registration laws fall on Airbnb. The company insists it cannot tailor its business practices for specific cities.
