BY SAM SPOKONY | State Assemblymember Deborah Glick is ready to throw a penalty flag on area residents who are planning to illegally rent out their apartments for the upcoming Super Bowl.
The buzz around Super Bowl XLVIII — which will take place at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium (home of the Giants and Jets) on Feb. 2 — is already tempting many locals to post rental advertisements on Web sites like Craigslist, as they seek to cash in on the event by offering their homes to game attendees who will be visiting that weekend.
The problem is, any apartment rental of fewer than 30 days — and which takes place while the permanent resident isn’t also home — is illegal under state law. Glick, whose district covers the Village, Soho, Noho and Tribeca, alerted her constituents to that fact in an e-mailed newsletter on Dec. 6.
In addition to the prospect of a resident being fined if he or she is caught conducting an illegal rental, Glick pointed out in her e-blast that an equally unwelcome punishment could also come from a landlord. If a tenant’s lease agreement specifically forbids short-term rentals, and the tenant is caught in the act, the landlord could go ahead and slap the individual with an eviction notice.
“What looks like a quick buck could end up being very problematic for you,” Glick said in a phone interview this week. “I understand that people are under economic pressure, and they want to take advantage of this by making money. But I just don’t want people to act rashly without understanding the risks.”
However, some locals are clearly not taking heed of those warnings, as numerous Downtown rental listings — specifically aimed at Super Bowl weekend visitors — continue to appear online.
Some residents are even being so bold — perhaps in ignorance of the state law — as to post their actual addresses in the advertisement.
One Craigslist poster, who lives at 66 W. Ninth St., is offering his or her “beautiful and cool” two-bedroom apartment to Super Bowl-goers for three nights, at a total price of $1,800. The listing, which states that the apartment can hold “up to five [people],” also points out that renters will have to take care of the resident’s “very cool pleasantly plump kitty cat” during their stay — apparently indicating that the permanent resident will not be home during the rental, and will thereby be breaking the law.
Another post on the site advertises a Greenwich Village studio apartment, which the resident states can actually hold up to four guests, and which is currently going for a price of $1,600 for Super Bowl weekend.
Yet another Craiglist advertisement lists “the perfect pad for Super Bowl week” — a six-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in Tribeca, which the resident points out has also hosted concerts and comedy shows in the past.
And on the Lower East Side, one resident is really hoping to cash in on the big game, by offering his or her two-bedroom apartment — which the ad claims can hold up to eight people — for a sum of $10,000 for a full week.
The Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement, which investigates illegal rentals, has not yet released a public statement warning against short-term Super Bowl rentals. The Mayor’s Office also did not respond to a request for comment for this article.
“I’m disappointed that the Mayor’s Office hasn’t made any statements on this, especially because they’ve been active on illegal hotel issues,” said Glick.
Recently, the city won a $1 million settlement in its lawsuit against Smart Apartments — a notorious illegal hotel operator — while also forcing the shutdown of that company.
Glick pointed out that after sending her Dec. 6 e-blast, about half of the e-mails her office received in response were from “irate” residents who opposed her stance on the issue, and who maintained they have a moral right to rent out their apartments, regardless of legal restrictions.
“People talk about big hotels and landlords,” she explained, “and they say, ‘If they can make all this money, why can’t I?’ ”
But the assemblymember said that, in any case, she would feel remiss in her duties as an elected official if she hadn’t sounded the alarm on this issue.
“I know we can’t control what people do, but I just felt it was important to put out the advisory,” she said. “I don’t want people to lose their homes as a result of making a choice like this.”
In addition, Glick warned people hoping to “score a touchdown” by renting out their apartments that there are other risks involved, namely, in terms of potential property damage and crime.
In short, if the tenant is away during the Super Bowl-period rental, there could be damage done to his or her personal property by the renters, she pointed out. Plus, the Super Bowl visitors could also do damage to common areas in apartment buildings. Furthermore, this damage “is likely not covered by your insurance policy,” Glick advised in her e-mail blast.
Lastly, she cautioned, bringing in the temporary renters could “put you and your neighbors at risk for any range of disruption and crime.”
Regarding other Super Bowl matters, Glick, who is one of the state Legislature’s most avid football fans, gave this newspaper her admittedly tentative picks for the two teams who will face off in the big game. She thinks the Denver Broncos will emerge as the league’s AFC Champions, and ended up putting her bet on the San Francisco 49ers to come out of the NFC — although she’s not counting out the Seattle Seahawks or the New Orleans Saints.
