Airbnb Sues New York City to Block Short-Term Rental Law (1)

Airbnb Inc. sued New York seeking to block a municipal law set to go into effect next month that will require hosts to register for an operating license, saying it is a “de facto ban” against short-term rentals in the largest US city.

Local Law 18, which was passed in January 2022, “chills short-term rentals by requiring extensive and intrusive disclosures of personal information and forcing open-ended agreement to labyrinthine regulations scattered across a complex web of laws, codes, and regulations,” the company said in a complaint filed Thursday in state court in Manhattan.

Airbnb claims the law imposes ...