Portland to Airbnb: No booking fees for illegal rentals

Published 12:00 am Monday, May 20, 2019

Portland’s mayor is planning to introduce an ordinance that would force online short-term rental companies like Airbnb to take down unpermitted rentals.

The proposed crackdown in Portland follows a federal court ruling in March that dealt a legal blow to Airbnb’s long-held position that it is not responsible for policing unpermitted listings on its site.

Portland’s revenue division has been trying to reach a voluntary agreement with the company for more than a year over unpermitted rentals.

The city says Airbnb’s latest offer represented a step backward, so it is preparing to try a tougher tactic: an ordinance that goes after Airbnb’s profits.

The draft ordinance would prevent Airbnb from collecting booking fees on unpermitted rentals in Portland.

It’s modeled after a similar ordinance in Santa Monica that was recently upheld by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Airbnb sued Santa Monica, arguing the city’s rules violated federal laws protecting online speech. The court disagreed, and upheld Santa Monica’s ordinance.

to read the rest of the story by OPB, a news partner of the Portland Tribune.