Airbnb Settles Lawsuit With San Francisco Over Required Registration For Listings

Airbnb settled a long-running dispute Monday with San Francisco over an ordinance that required users to register their listings with the city, Reuters reported.

The settlement requires Airbnb to guide new users through a process that allows them to register their homes through San Francisco. The registration tools will also let users get a business license through the city. On Airbnb’s end, the company will provide a list to the city on a monthly basis that will allow it to confirm which listings are properly or improperly registered.

Read: Airbnb: No IPO Plans Yet, But Possible In 2018

The dispute originally started last year in response to a San Francisco ordinance that had made it illegal for Airbnb to collect service fees on listings that weren’t registered with the city. For Airbnb’s part, the company had argued it wasn’t liable for listings posted on its platform.

Airbnb said San Francisco is not the only city where the company has had to implement similar policies, so it’s familiar with what users need to comply with registration requirements. Listings that aren’t properly registered with Airbnb and San Francisco will be taken down.

As San Francisco officials noted in a release, the city currently features around 2,100 registered short-term, but more than 8,000 total, Airbnb listings. In a statement, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera said the move ensures the city and Airbnb’s needs can be met simultaneously.

“This is a turning point when it comes to enforcement,” Herrera said. “This settlement ensures that the two largest rental platforms in San Francisco will only include legal listings. It also guarantees that enforcement with real teeth begins in short order. This will help prevent our precious housing stock from being illegally turned into de facto hotels as we work hard to turn the tide on San Francisco’s housing crisis. At the same time, we’ve crafted this agreement to give people enough time to comply with the rules and to make it easier for them to follow the law.”

As TechCrunch noted, the San Francisco case isn’t the last legal tussle in which Airbnb is involved. The rental company has been involved in suits in Santa Monica and Anaheim, California, as well as Miami. It recently settled a similar case with New York City.

Read: Indiana Exploring Law To Prevent Cities From Regulating Airbnb

Airbnb’s legal disputes have also played a role in the company’s recent push to diversify its assets. In the past year, the rental company has launched Trips, a tourism activity side-feature for rentals, and made a series of acquisitions aimed at targeting boutique and luxury rentals. Elsewhere, the company has also looked into formally offering options for long-term rentals.

While Airbnb isn’t on as legally perilous ground as it was in the past, the company’s desire to diversify its offerings comes from wanting to avoid having all its proverbial eggs in one basket.