Airbnb is legal in San Francisco.
The online hotelier, one of Silicon Valley's most-valuable new companies, can now offer its services in its home city without running afoul of a longstanding ban on rentals of shorter than 30 days, according to reports.
The San Francisco Examiner reports that Airbnb is now legal provided that a host registers with the city, pays a $50 fee, carries insurance and lives in the housing for at least nine months of out the year.
A tenant in rent-controlled housing would then be able to offer up a room or the entire apartment up for rent via Airbnb or other online services.
The Board of Supervisors voted to appove the legislation by a 7 to 4 vote, the newspaper reported.
Airbnb has about 5,000 listings in San Francisco, according to the Chronicle.
At least one rental agency isn't thrilled with the proposal. HomeAway, which owns VBRO.com, blasted the legislation -- which would effectively outlaw the renting of vacation homes online -- as "wildly unenforceable" and written explicitly for Airbnb.
