Booking platforms operating in Boston must verify host registration numbers before processing bookings. Platforms processing payments for unregistered units face direct city fines, separate from host-side penalties under Boston's STR ordinance.
Boston Ord. 12-9.1 imposes joint-and-several liability between hosts and platforms for unregistered short-term rentals. Platforms must collect each host's city-issued registration number, confirm it against the city's active registry, and refuse bookings for invalid or expired registrations. Quarterly reporting to ISD lists every Boston booking, host, address, nights occupied, and revenue. The First Circuit's 2019 ruling in Airbnb Inc. v. City of Boston upheld these obligations, finding that booking-side regulation does not violate the Communications Decency Act since it targets the platform's own commercial conduct, not third-party speech.
Processing bookings for an unregistered Boston unit exposes the platform to per-booking civil penalties and potential injunctive relief in Suffolk Superior Court.
Boston, MA
Boston requires STR registration through Inspectional Services with a $200 annual fee. Only owner-occupied properties qualify, and operators must reside in t...
Boston, MA
Boston requires Airbnb, Vrbo, and similar platforms to delist units that accumulate repeated nuisance, registration, or zoning violations. ISD maintains a vi...
See how Boston's host platform liability rules stack up against other locations.
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