Airbnb to crack down on illegal rentals in S.F.

Airbnb is making moves to become more compliant with San Francisco's housing laws.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the vacation-rental website will begin investigating hosts who list multiple homes. And starting Saturday, Airbnb will also purge hosts who have turned private homes into illegal hotels.

“We want to continually evolve the platform so it serves the best interest of each city we’re in,” Airbnb spokesman Chris Lehane told the SF Chronicle. “This is a step in that direction, to make sure that each host has only one listing in San Francisco.”

Current law in San Francisco says homeowners can list only their own residences for vacation rentals. But according to data Airbnb shared with the newspaper, a fifth of all full-home rentals in San Francisco are controlled by hosts who rent more than one entire home via the site.

As rental rates continue to skyrocket in San Francisco, Airbnb has been widely criticized for draining the city of available housing.

Contributing: The Associated Press, The San Francisco Chronicle