Page 12 - NY Cooperator December 2019

12 THE COOPERATOR —
DECEMBER 2019
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for the third. Miami Beach goes even fur-
ther, imposing the highest fi nes for illegal share can end up costing you and your
short-term rentals in the country: $20,000 neighbors in time, money, and headaches
for the fi rst violation, $40,000 for the sec-
ond, $60,000 for the third, $80,000 for the ing, association, or management company
fourth —and a whopping $100,000 for each do to protect itself and its residents from
off ense thereaft er (at least for now— an the physical, social, and economic risks of
October Miami-Dade circuit court ruling home-sharing?
struck down the ordinance’s fi nes as illegal
and unenforceable; the city currently is ap-
pealing that decision).
Fighting a Goliath
Th e homesharing platforms themselves
aren’t going down without a fi ght, of course.
Cities across the country are facing legal
and lobbying challenges to their attempts
to curb (or at least regulate) short-term
renting. For example, a referendum on the
November 5 ballot in Jersey City, New Jer-
sey put it to voters to decide whether a city
ordinance imposing certain restrictions on
short-term renting would stand. Airbnb—
which predictably opposed the measure,
and has a projected valuation of $38 bil-
lion—came ready to fi ght, plugging over $4
million into eff orts to sway voters to their
side. In spite of Airbnb’s big spend and PR
campaign, residents of Jersey City passed
the referendum by a large majority: 68.7%.
Th e city of Boston has also been engaged
in a legal battle with Airbnb over the course
of this year aft er it passed an ordinance re-
quiring short-term rentals to register with
the city and pay the same 5.7% state tax
imposed on hotels. In that case the parties
settled, agreeing to a new requirement that
all short-term rental listings display a city-
formatted registration number by Decem-
ber 1, 2019, and Airbnb agreeing to share
data about listings with the city.
Let’s Be Clear
Th ere’s no doubt about it: an illegal home
for years to come. So what can a build-
“Th e simplest answer,” says Roberts,
“is to have a clearly stated policy, either
in the house rules or on a policy letter to
shareholders, that informs them just what
the rules are; if it’s allowed, if there’s a pro-
cedure for doing it, and what that proce-
dure is. And if it’s prohibited, shareholders
[should be] clear about this.” He cautions
that wording is very important. For ex-
ample, there is standard proprietary lease
language that discusses occupancy by the
shareholder that can be followed by and
immediate family or or immediate family.
“If it says ‘and,’” says Roberts, “it means the
shareholder has to be [residing in the apart-
ment with the other occupant(s)]. If it says
‘or,’ it means the shareholder doesn’t have
to be there,” leading to all sorts of possible
interpretations. “If you have a clear rule,”
he continues, “it just makes the rest of the
process so much easier.” Clear rules, clearly
worded, communicated clearly. Adds Rob-
erts, “In manufacturing,, they call it ‘Six
Sigma:’ you do your quality control at the
front end of the process, not the back end.
And the returns are substantially greater.”
n
Darcey Gerstein is an Associate Editor/
Staff Writer for Th e Cooperator.
THE ILLEGAL...
continued from page 11
and daily life at a property, from work
orders to who can and can’t enter the
building. We view every building as an
individual ecosystem. BuildingLink is
for both building staff and residents – no
more sticky notes.”
Th e more complex the daily manage-
ment structure of a property, the more apt
managers and residents are to dig deeper
into the features off ered by apps and oth-
er technology-based tools. In the case of
scalable platforms like BuildingLink, full-
service buildings may make greater use of
the various modules than smaller build-
ing with little or no staff .
“In communities without a full staff ,
our technology is more focused on main-
tenance,” says Kestenbaum. “Th ese types
of communications become even more
crucial without staff , [because] no-one is
there to remind you that the water will be
turned off . Th ese buildings require a more
proactive approach to logistics supplied
through our communications module,
which can be delivered by email and text.”
How eff ective these communications
are is heavily dependent on initial buy-in
and participation of residents. Th ey must
register for email and text alerts, and – in
the case of email, anyway – must check
regularly for notifi cations. If residents
don’t sign up for text updates or don’t
check email messages, they may miss
communications. Janelle Lott is Regional
Account Manager for One Call Now, a
mass communication app based in Bos-
ton that serves clients throughout the
United States and Canada. According to
her, “Our clients use our system to send
one single notifi cation to residents deliv-
ered by a phone call, text, or email – or
all three. Our system is benefi cial for bill
payment reminders, community events,
maintenance issues, and emergencies.”
One Call Now is a ‘broadcast’ technol-
ogy. It provides a pathway for manage-
ment and boards to communicate with
residents in a nearly complete format,
INTRODUCING...
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