Can you operate your condo like a hotel?

Condo by-laws generally prohibit leases of less than six months. Whether and how that's enforced, I don't know.

This being NYC and not Mogadishu, there're all kinds of laws controlling hotel and hotel-like operation.

All that's not to say there aren't loose condos where the neighbors and staff are OK with a stream of guests, but I have no idea how you'd find them.

Here's some good background on the topic as of mid-2010, from one of the sanest voices in the business, Ron Gitter:
http://coopandcondo.com/component/flexicontent/items/item/183-whats-the-big

I seem to recal NYC passed a law expressly forbidding this. This sort of arrangement is also very bad for property values.

usually no... but u probably wont get killed doing an occasional short term furnished sublet/swap

Have you tried airbnb?
http://ejroundtheworld.blogspot.com/2011/06/violated-travelers-lost-faith-difficult.html

forget the condo board; running short-term sublets without paying the city hotel tax is a violation of NYC law. Use airbnb once, you'll probably get away with it; set up for repeat business, and when the city catches you, it won't be pretty.

ali r.
DG Neary Realty

Violation of laws and the enforcement of those laws are two different topics. twice in the last two months family came to NY tovisit from overseas, each a family of 5. Both families came for about a week and stayed in private apartments that were for rent. I am pretty sure this wasn't legal.

We have a multi-faceted problem in this country, both on the federal and local levels, that there are now so many laws that they can't all be enforced. This is a problem in that no longer can all laws be enforced, but the priorities are usually set on the political level instead of by law enforcement. But the problem is even worse from the point of view of justice. Since the breadth of our laws means that at any given time nearly every citizen is in violation of some federal, state or local statute, there is a huge opportunity for prosecutorial misconduct. If you fall into the sights of some law enforcement or political or political party official, or just someone powerful with friends in those areas, your life could be made miserable even though you are living the life of an average "law abiding" citizen.

Great, thanks for everyones feedback so far. So it looks like the hotel tax is $2 + 5.875% currently for anything >= $40 per day. So not a massive amount to do it legit. http://www.nyc.gov/html/dof/html/business/business_tax_hotel.shtml

So before I've actually rented a corporate short let apartment. Those tend to be a in a variety of buildings. Any views on how those operate as they seem more legit?

Also, say I did want to get into the short let business. I assume you could operate a vacation / corporate short let business if you owned a block of apartments? Say a smaller building, maybe 4-5 units. If you owned the block would the logistics be a bit easier?

Thanks again.

Av, make sure you perform your civic obligations when called for Jury Duty. And keep an open mind.

If you have lived in this sort of situation as I have it usually is no problem until there is a problem. Although these are generally nice people on vacation in a shotr term rental, they are on a differnt energy than say a neighbor that has to get up early for work and will not abide by a disturbance. If the short term renters are coming home late in a building where they don't realize how loud they might be, that usually kills the deal. Also, the constant wheeling of luggage in and out does erode let's say a residential feel of the sturcture. City enforced or not, this should be addressed by each building specifically where this takes place.

"We have a multi-faceted problem in this country, both on the federal and local levels, that there are now so many laws that they can't all be enforced. This is a problem in that no longer can all laws be enforced, but the priorities are usually set on the political level instead of by law enforcement. But the problem is even worse from the point of view of justice. Since the breadth of our laws means that at any given time nearly every citizen is in violation of some federal, state or local statute, there is a huge opportunity for prosecutorial misconduct. If you fall into the sights of some law enforcement or political or political party official, or just someone powerful with friends in those areas, your life could be made miserable even though you are living the life of an average "law abiding" citizen."

WELL PUT.