The city of Portland has finally approved measures to legalize Airbnb which may serve as a precedent for other cities across the country.
Portland City Council has outlined a set of rules each homeowner must comply with in order to legally rent out rooms on the website.
Residents must allow safety inspections to be carried out and apply for a $180 city permit.
Owners must also live on the property for at a minimum of nine months in a year.
San Francisco-based Airbnb has over 1,500 Portland rentals listed on its site and has agreed in principle to paying around $500,000 in estimated tax revenues for the first full year of legal operation.
In Portland’s case, the agreement was sweetened by Airbnb’s already announced plans to open a Portland office with the creation of up to 160 local jobs.
The permit system implemented in Portland could well be adopted in San Francisco and New York, two of the largest cities which have demanded the identities of hosts making money from Airbnb bookings.
Airbnb has so far resisted these requests but recently agreed to pass on "anonymized" data to the New York Attorney General’s Office.
