New York Cities Can Now Demand Quarterly Reports from Airbnb and Vrbo. Here Is What Gets Reported.

Somewhere in a county office in central New York, a clerk is opening a spreadsheet that did not exist six months ago. It contains every short-term rental booking that Airbnb and Vrbo processed in the county last quarter. Names. Addresses. Nights booked. Taxes collected. The clerk did not subpoena anyone. They did not file a lawsuit. They asked, and the platforms were required to hand it over.

That is the new reality under New York’s Article 12-D of the Real Property Law, signed by Governor Hochul on December 23, 2024. The law created a county-by-county framework that allows local governments to build short-term rental registries and, critically, compel booking platforms to file quarterly data reports. It is the first law of its kind in the state’s history. And it is part of a national pattern that is quietly reshaping what “private” means for STR operators.

Documents show that New York communities lost an estimated $550 million in uncollected sales and occupancy tax revenue over five years before this law was enacted, according to the New York State Tourism Industry Association. That number explains the urgency. It also explains why the machinery being built here goes well beyond a simple registry.

What Platforms Must Report Every Quarter

The quarterly reports that Airbnb, Vrbo, and other booking platforms must file with participating counties contain more detail than many hosts expect. Here is what gets disclosed under the new Airbnb and Vrbo reporting requirements in New York:

• Rental locations. The physical address of every short-term rental unit that received a booking through the platform during the quarter.
• Occupancy nights. How many nights each property was occupied by paying guests.
• Guest counts. The number of guests who stayed at each property.
• Taxes collected. The amount of sales tax and occupancy tax the platform collected and remitted on behalf of each listing.

Platforms also file a separate report with the New York Department of State covering the total number of bookings facilitated in each county. That state-level report is aggregated. The county-level reports are not.

This is the distinction that matters. The Department of State sees totals. Counties see specifics. And counties are required to share that data with every city, town, and village government within their borders within 60 days of receiving it.

For operators, this means your local code enforcement office will know exactly which properties in town are listed on Airbnb, how often they are booked, and whether the taxes are being collected. That information did not flow to municipalities before this law.

Which Counties Are Building Registries

New York’s law is opt-in by default. Every county in the state is expected to create a registry unless it actively passes a local law to opt out. The deadline to opt out was December 31, 2025. Here is where things stand.

Oswego County launched its registry on February 9, 2026, under Local Law Number 2 of 2025. Registration costs $50 every two years. Operators must complete an online application, upload permits and insurance documentation, and display a county-issued permit number near the entry of the rental unit. The county estimates more than 500 short-term rentals currently operate within its borders.

Oneida County set a registration deadline of January 1, 2026. Registration is free. All short-term rentals are subject to a 5% hotel and motel occupancy tax on top of the existing 8.75% sales tax. Online platforms collect and remit taxes on behalf of hosts. Hosts booking independently must collect and remit directly to the county. Several hundred STR units operate in Oneida County each month.

Warren County (home to Lake George, one of the state’s most popular vacation rental markets) has projected an annual revenue increase of approximately $1.2 million from the new tax and reporting framework.

Franklin County in the Adirondacks has projected an additional $800,000 in annual sales tax revenue.

Essex County officials have publicly welcomed the additional information and tax revenue the law provides.

Not every county is on board. Monroe County (Rochester) voted 21-8 in December 2025 to opt out of the registry entirely. County Executive Adam Bello argued that an existing agreement with Airbnb, in place since 2018, had already generated more than $5 million in hotel/motel tax revenue, including $1.2 million in 2024 alone. Critics, including Legislator Rachel Barnhart, argued that opting out leaves the county blind to how many units are being used as short-term rentals and their impact on housing availability.

Monroe County’s decision does not prevent it from opting in later. But for now, it stands as the most prominent county to reject the new framework.

How the Tax Collection Changed Overnight

Before this law, short-term rental operators outside New York City occupied a gray area on taxes. Some collected and remitted sales tax. Many did not. Platforms had voluntary agreements with some jurisdictions but no statewide obligation.

Starting March 25, 2025, all STR booking platforms operating in New York must collect and remit the 4% state sales tax plus applicable local sales taxes. In most areas, the combined rate is approximately 8%. Operators who book independently (not through a platform) must collect and remit these taxes themselves.

This is not optional. It applies statewide regardless of whether a county has created a registry.

The registry layer adds the reporting dimension. In counties with registries, operators must also register their properties, obtain a permit number, and include that number in all listings and advertisements. Booking platforms must verify registration before processing reservations in those counties.

The California Parallel. SB 346 Built the Template.

New York did not create this model from scratch. California’s SB 346, the Short-Term Rental Facilitator Act, was signed by Governor Newsom on October 13, 2025, and took effect January 1, 2026. It established a framework that New York’s law echoes in structure, though the two differ in important ways.

Under California’s SB 346, cities and counties that adopt local ordinances can compel platforms to report:

• Physical addresses with nine-digit ZIP codes
• Assessor parcel numbers
• Listing URLs
• Unit-specific identification for multi-unit properties
• Local license numbers and transient occupancy tax (TOT) certificates

California’s data requirements are more granular than New York’s. The penalty structure is also steeper. First violations carry a $1,500 fine. Second violations within a year jump to $3,000. Each additional violation costs $5,000 or more, with some jurisdictions pursuing penalties of up to $10,000 per day for platform non-compliance.

The critical similarity: neither law is self-executing. In both states, local governments must take affirmative action to activate the reporting requirements. In California, that means adopting an ordinance. In New York, counties must either create a registry or fail to opt out by the deadline.

An estimated 25% to 75% of California’s short-term rentals operate without proper licensing, according to industry analyses. The data-sharing provisions of SB 346 are designed to make those invisible operators visible. New York’s law targets the same problem with a different mechanism.

The pattern is clear. States are building the legal infrastructure for cities to see exactly who is operating short-term rentals and whether they are complying with local rules. This is the data layer underneath the platform enforcement trend we covered last week.

What This Means for Hosts in New York

If you operate a short-term rental in a New York county that has created a registry, your obligations changed. Here is the practical checklist:

Register your property. Each county sets its own requirements, but the baseline includes an online application, proof of insurance, and any required local permits. Fees vary. Oswego charges $50 every two years. Oneida charges nothing.

Display your permit number. Your county-issued registration number must appear in all listings and advertisements. Platforms will eventually verify this number before processing bookings.

Understand your tax obligations. Platforms collect sales tax automatically. But if you take direct bookings, you are responsible for collecting and remitting both sales tax and any applicable occupancy tax to the county.

Assume your data is being shared. Every quarter, the platform will report your address, occupancy nights, guest counts, and taxes collected to the county. The county will share that data with your municipal government within 60 days.

Hosts who are already compliant with local regulations have little to worry about. The reporting framework is designed to surface operators who are not collecting taxes or not complying with local STR rules. If you are registered, insured, and paying your taxes, the quarterly reports simply confirm what the county already knows.

The hosts who should pay attention are those operating in a gray area: listing properties without local permits, underreporting income, or operating in municipalities with STR restrictions they have been ignoring. The data pipeline that now runs from Airbnb’s servers to your county clerk’s office makes that gray area much smaller.

How Compliant Operators Are Getting Ahead

Smart operators in New York are not waiting to see how enforcement shakes out. Sources reveal that several property management companies operating in the Hudson Valley and Catskills regions have proactively registered properties in every county where they operate, even in counties that have not yet finalized their registry requirements.

The logic is straightforward. When a county receives its first quarterly report from Airbnb and cross-references it against its registry, the operators who already registered will be in compliance. The ones who did not will receive notices. In counties that adopt local enforcement provisions, those notices can carry fines.

StaySTRA data shows that New York City commands an average daily rate of $274 per night with 86.7% occupancy, while Albany averages $146 per night at 52% occupancy (data as of approximately November 2025). Those are two very different markets with very different operator profiles, but both are now subject to the same quarterly reporting framework. Whether you manage a single apartment in Manhattan under NYC’s Local Law 18 or a lakefront cabin in the Adirondacks, the platforms are reporting your activity to the government.

What Happens Next

New York’s 62 counties are at various stages of implementation. Some have launched registries. Some have opted out. Many are still building their systems. The first full round of quarterly reports under the new framework began flowing to counties in late 2025, and the data picture sharpens with each subsequent quarter.

The national trajectory is unmistakable. California built the template with SB 346. New York adapted it for a county-based governance structure. Other states are watching. The question is no longer whether governments will have access to platform data about short-term rental operators. The question is what they will do with it.

For hosts and investors in New York, the actionable step is simple: register, comply, and operate as if your local government already has your data. Because starting this year, they will.

We do our best to keep our reporting accurate and up to date, but situations evolve and we are only human. Always verify current details directly with local officials and sources before making decisions.

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