Tuesday, November 4, 2014

HomeAway Sues San Francisco Over New Home Rental Law

Austin-based HomeAway said Monday that it has sued the City of San Francisco, in an attempt to block a new law which restricts home rentals. HomeAway said it filed the lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, claiming the newly passed short-term rental ordinance discriminates against second home owners, non-resident companies, and non-resident individuals who are advertising short term rentals. The law has been dubbed the "Airbnb law" locally. HomeAway claims the new law "effective turns over control of short-term rentals" to Airbnb by requiring short term rentals go through a "hosting platform" which looks exactly like Airbnb.