Samantha Marcus, NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

A bill to treat and tax such online short-term rental marketplaces as Airbnb like other hotels and motels passed the state Assembly on Monday.

The bill's sponsors say these "transient accommodations" have enjoyed special status in New Jersey, while more traditional lodging providers are regulated and subject to taxes.

"We can't allow rules to apply to one business but not another when they essentially provide the same services," Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen), a sponsor, said in a statement. "Accommodations booked through sites like Airbnb are used like hotel rooms. They should be subject to the same obligation."

Such marketplaces have gained popularity in recent years, allowing people to list and book apartments, houses, villas, and even castles throughout the world for a night, a week, or a month. The most famous, Airbnb, boasts listings in 65,000 cities and 191 countries.

Legislation Assembly Democrats Annette Quijano, Valerie Vainieri Huttle and Raj Mukherji sponsored to ensure fairness among all hospitality providers in New Jersey and provide a much-needed revenue boost to the state gained the approval of the General Assembly on Monday.

The bill (A-4587) would impose upon "transient accommodations," or residences used as temporary lodging, the same taxes and fees that hotels and motels currently must pay to the state.

"Our laws need to be updated to keep up with changes brought about by new technology," said Quijano (D-Union). "The fact that taxes are not paid for stays at locations rented through sites like Airbnb but are applied to stays in hotels is an unfair advantage that hurts the hospitality industry and takes funding away from municipalities for important programs. This bill levels the playing field and provides tax fairness for the entire hospitality industry in New Jersey."

"We can't allow rules to apply to one business but not another when they essentially provide the same service," said Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen). "Accommodations booked through sites like Airbnb are used like hotel rooms. They should be subject to the same obligation."

"Online lodging marketplaces have allowed thousands of hosts in New Jersey to make extra income and have provided more short-term rental options to people from all over the country and the world who want to visit the Garden State, but the current system gives them an unfair advantage," said Mukherji (D-Hudson). "Rather than penalizing the choice to stay in a hotel or motel, the state should ensure that everyone pays the same taxes for lodging."

Nicholas Pugliese, NorthJersey.com

Short-term housing rentals through Airbnb and other online marketplaces could soon be subject to the same taxes as hotels and motels in New Jersey, under a bill approved by the Assembly Budget Committee on Wednesday.

The measure would raise $6 million in revenue annually from Airbnb alone, according to an estimate from the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services, but would also push up prices for people using the service by as much as 18 percent.

Another bill related to Airbnb that would require hosts to register with their municipality before listing a short-term rental was not considered Wednesday even though its sponsor said it was “gaining momentum.”

irbnb has become a controversial topic in New Jersey, where the company says there were roughly 6,000 active hosts who earned more than $50 million in 2016. Founded in 2008 and based in San Francisco, Airbnb now has more than 2.5 million users worldwide and values itself at $30 billion.

But its fast growth has been met with resistance from communities and its rivals in the hotel industry, who say the short-term-rental industry is hurting hotels and the housing market, as well as eroding the quality of life in neighborhoods.

Closter was the latest of several municipalities in North Jersey to ban rentals shorter than 30 days, citing quality-of-life concerns.

The bill that advanced Wednesday, A-4587, would not impose new restrictions on Airbnb and other “transient space marketplaces.” Rather, it would make rentals through those services subject, for the first time, to the state’s 6.875 sales and use tax and its 5 percent hotel and motel occupancy fee.

(TRENTON) - Legislation sponsored by Assemblywomen Annette Quijano and Valerie Vainieri Huttle to ensure fairness among all hospitality providers in the state and provide a much needed revenue boost to the state was released Wednesday by an Assembly panel.

The bill (A-4587) would impose the same taxes and fees that hotels and motels must currently pay to the state.

"Our laws need to be updated to keep up with changes brought about by new technology," said Quijano (D-Union). "The fact that taxes are not paid for stays at locations rented through sites like Airbnb but are applied to stays in hotels is an unfair advantage that hurts the hospitality industry and takes funding away from municipalities for important programs. This bill levels the playing field and provides tax fairness for the entire hospitality industry in New Jersey."

Observer 

In this era of heightened awareness and “see something, say something” directives, it’s wise for local communities to know if someone in town may be renting out their home or apartment through the proliferation of new short-term rental websites, such as Airbnb or FlipKey.

Essentially, these short-term rentals are creating hotels in neighborhoods that are zoned for residential dwellings, which, in turn creates issues of public safety and security in local communities.

Currently, these types of short-term rentals made available through transient space marketplaces are not regulated.

While this relatively new venture may seem like a cheap alternative to traditional hotels and motels, we’ve heard from many local officials and constituents who have legitimate concerns over this unregulated and burgeoning industry, including the inability to know who may be staying in their communities and their impact on the local quality of life.

On the other side of the coin, this lack of regulation also leaves consumers vulnerable because they have no way of knowing if the property they are renting is safe, up to code and insured.

The Record

In this era of heightened awareness and “see something, say something” directives, it’s wise for local communities to know if someone in town may be renting out their home or apartment through the proliferation of new short-term rental websites, such as Airbnb or FlipKey.

Essentially, these short-term rentals are creating hotels in neighborhoods that are zoned for residential dwellings, which, in turn creates issues of public safety and security in local communities.

Currently, these types of short-term rentals made available through transient space marketplaces are not regulated.

While this relatively new venture may seem like a cheap alternative to traditional hotels and motels, we’ve heard from many local officials and constituents who have legitimate concerns over this unregulated and burgeoning industry, including the inability to know who may be staying in their communities and their impact on the local quality of life.

On the other side of the coin, this lack of regulation also leaves consumers vulnerable because they have no way of knowing if the property they are renting is safe, up to code and insured.

Briana Vannozzi, NJTV News 

“We had examples of party house situations here in Fort Lee, consumption of on-street parking. In today’s day and age you want to know who’s living in your neighborhood,” said Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich.

Sokolich says constituents living next door to Airbnb hosts have been inundating his phone line with complaints.

The short-term home rental service is booming in New Jersey. And neighbors in small-town suburbs say it feels a bit like having a hotel outside their house.

“We have millions of people that go through our streets on literally a weekly basis. We’re not trying to find out and know about each and every one of them, but we certainly want to know about the ones that are sleeping in our neighborhoods,” Sokolich said.

“So what we came up with was to create a statewide model so that municipalities could create a registry and the registry would be for the host to go into the municipality and say that they’re going to rent their homes,” said Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle.

Michael Booth, New Jersey Law Journal 

The New Jersey Legislature is taking the first steps toward regulating and taxing the burgeoning home-sharing industry, dominated by San Francisco-based Airbnb, even as some towns in the state have taken steps to ban the practice within their borders.

The Assembly Tourism, Gaming and the Arts Committee has recommended passage of a two-bill home-sharing package. The first bill, A4587, would impose state sales and occupancy taxes on the operators of home-sharing facilities, as well as other taxes, depending on the particular municipality.

The second bill, A4441, would allow local governments to mandate that homeowners who want to rent out all or part of their homes via home-sharing platforms register with the municipality, pay a fee and ensure their homes are up to code and properly maintained. Homeowners could face fines of up to $100 a day for failure to comply. The bill also would allow towns to effectively bar home-sharing by setting a minimum 30-day rental agreement.

In regulating the home-sharing industry, most advances are being made by cities, not states, although New York State law bars most urban apartment owners from renting out their homes for stays of 30 days or less. The District of Columbia also has introduced legislation that would impose licensing and tax requirements on home-sharing.

Michael Symons, New Jersey 101.5

New Jersey lawmakers are moving ahead with plans to tax and regulate home-sharing operations like Airbnb. And while the company is OK with collecting taxes, it doesn’t like the approach being taken to license or prohibit the short-term rentals it brokers.

Assemblywoman Annette Quijano, D-Union, said New Jersey’s tax laws need to be updated to keep up with technology and the home-sharing portion of the hospitality industry.

“It’s unfair to hotels and motels that have to compete with a new business model that provides essentially the same service but does not have to charge state sales tax, the state hotel/motel fee and a municipal hotel tax, which can total up to 18 percent in some areas,” Quijano said. “That’s a very significant disparity and a significant barrier to overcome.”

Last year, more than 6,000 New Jersey hosts earned over $50 million through 257,000 short-term rentals arranged through Airbnb.

Such rentals should have to pay the same taxes as hotels, said Marilou Halvorsen, president of the New Jersey Restaurant & Hospitality Association.

“We as an organization don’t normally believe in new taxes. However, if you are conducting your business like a hotel, you’re operating like a hotel, you are in the lodging business, and we feel you should have the same obligations as traditional lodging facilities,” Halvorsen said.

Brent Johnson, NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Online marketplaces such as Airbnb that offer short-term housing rentals would face new taxes and regulations in New Jersey under a pair of bills that state lawmakers have begun advancing.

The state Assembly's tourism committee passed both measures Monday -- one which would tax the companies the same way hotels are in the Garden State and another that would establish regulations in the state for the ever-growing industry.

Such marketplaces have gained popularity in recent years, allowing people to list and book apartments, houses, villas, and even castles throughout the world for a night, a week, or a month. The most famous is Airbnb, a San Francisco company that boasts having listings in 65,000 cities and 191 countries.

In New Jersey, about 6,100 residents hosted sites through Airbnb last year, renting to about 257,000 people. That resulted in $50 million in income for the renters.