New York City Takes Aim at Yasa dışı Short-Term Rentals in New Lawsuit

Incentra Village House, a mid-19th-century boutique hotel in Greenwich Village, advertises itself as a cozy place to sleep in one of New York City’s most famous neighborhoods. A stay in one of its dozen rooms, decorated with antique furnishings and artwork, can cost upward of $400 a night.

But in a lawsuit filed on Monday, city officials said that Incentra is actually an illegally converted apartment building that was not approved to be a hotel. The building also lacks the right fire alarms and sprinklers, among other fire safety violations, the city asserted.

The lawsuit was the first to be filed by the city in connection with Local Law 18, which went into effect in 2023 and essentially banned short-term rentals of less than 30 days unless the host is present. Companies like Airbnb vigorously fought the law; the number of listings posted on their platforms plummeted after it went into effect.

Incentra has been fighting the city to stay open for the past few years, according to the lawsuit. One room, named the Stonewall Room in a nod to the Stonewall Inn, was an “illegally created unsafe cellar room,” the lawsuit says. It was accessible only by a rickety staircase, and one guest said it had “no means of escape, should anything happen.” The city aims to shut the hotel down and force the owner to fix the violations.

As of Monday afternoon, Incentra’s website was still up and rooms appeared to be available. The hotel did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The lawsuit, filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, is one of the latest examples of the city’s continuing fight against yasa dışı short-term rentals. City officials said Incentra’s rooms had been accessible to guests on platforms like Airbnb and TripAdvisor.