Few Boston short-term rentals meet regulations so far

Just over 1,000 of Boston’s 6,100 Airbnb units have started the process of registering with the city ahead of a Dec. 1 deadline — and only half of those have been approved — suggesting there could be a dramatic drop-off in the number of rooms available in a little over a month.

The popular short-term rental company Airbnb has pledged to remove any short-term rental listings from its site that don’t include a city registration number on Dec. 1.

Lisa Timberlake, a spokeswoman for Boston’s Inspectional Services Department, said last week that the city has received only 1,094 applications. Of those, 495 were approved and 465 rejected, with 134 still pending. Registration numbers were issued for 392 of the approved properties that had paid their fees as of Oct. 20.

The city’s short-term rental ordinance, passed in June 2018, bars so-called investor units — with nonresident landlords — from placing their properties on the Airbnb-style apps. Property owners can still rent out single rooms in their own homes, or entire apartments in two- or three-unit buildings in which they live.

The law, which took effect Jan. 1, also requires people who rent out units on rental-service sites such as Airbnb and HomeAway to register with the city.

Karen Chen of the Chinese Progressive Association said she hopes the regulations will return thousands of apartments to residents, which could help stabilize rents.

“Whether all the units go back to the long-term housing market remains to be seen,” she said.

Mayor Martin Walsh said in a statement the regulations are meant to strike a “fair balance between preserving housing and allowing Bostonians to benefit from this new industry.”

The ISD started cracking down on illegal short-term rentals last month after the sunset clause for grandfathered listings expired — issuing 41 fines at $300 each so far, said ISD Director Dion Irish.

Irish said inspectors are finding illegal short-term rentals, thanks to tips from neighbors and an exhaustive analysis of online rental platforms.

“The enforcement business is a bit of a cat-and-mouse game,” Irish said.

Boston University Professor Makarand Mody, a hospitality marketing scholar who studies the effects of short-term rentals on various other industries, said a big drop-off in short-term rental availability “will potentially help hotels be able to charge more.”

“Airbnb is not reducing hotel occupancy — but it is reducing hotel pricing power,” Mody told the Herald.

He said the jury’s still out on the effect this will have on tourist in Boston — and the jobs that surround that industry.