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Legislation has been proposed that would heavily regulate Airbnb rentals in DC. Hotel owners and employees are behind the two proposed bills.
The first bill is backed by hotel worker union UNITE-HERE Local 25 and seeks to restrict temporary rentals of apartments or houses if the owner isn’t present. The second bill is backed by hotel owners and looks to stop owners who rent out several units for business purposes. Councilmember Vincent Orange is sponsoring both bills.
Airbnb was founded in 2008 and has experienced meteoric growth. The San Francisco-based company has over 1.5 million listings in 34,000 countries worldwide. The company has had its share of issues in the DC area, including the District government suing the owner of an Airbnb rental property that was the subject of numerous complaints. [UT]
