Several sources report that Airbnb has filed a lawsuit against the city of Anaheim challenging a law that banes short-term rentals within the city limits. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Santa Ana is the second time the company has sued a municipality that has tried to restrict short-term rentals as they took San Francisco to court last month.
Airbnb argues that Anaheim’s new law unfairly make Airbnb and other similar sites responsible for making sure that the properties listed in Anaheim meet city regulations.
An Anaheim spokeswoman said the city doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
Short-term rentals had become popular for those visiting the Disneyland Resort due to rising hotel room costs within Anaheim. A significant source of Anaheim’s city budget comes from taxes collected at the city’s hotels. Anaheim had created a permit and tax collection process for short-term rentals, but following resident complaints, the city council voted to permanently stop issuing permits for short-term rentals and gave existing permit holders 18 months to cease operations.
“We want to keep working with governments to craft rules that work, but the city of Anaheim quickly banned this economic lifeline and created regulations that violate federal law,” Airbnb spokeswoman Alison Schumer said.
The lawsuit says the regulation violates constitutional rights to free speech and equal protection under the law as well as the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which prohibits states and local jurisdictions from holding Internet platforms liable for content created by users of the websites.