May 2 (UPI) -- Airbnb settled its lawsuit with the city of San Francisco, the online rental marketplace announced.
The company, which offers a website through which individuals with rental properties can find short-term occupants, said the settlement is similar to those reached between Airbnb and other U.S. cities.
Airbnb agreed to San Francisco's call for more transparency about hosts, and to aid in enforcing current registration laws. A potential host will need to be listed with the city before a rental property is available on the Airbnb website, which lists about 8,000 rental sites although the San Francisco government has about 2,100 approved registrations.
"You're not able to be listed unless we've taken them through that [registration] process," Chris Lehane of Airbnb said Monday.
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The agreements will also allow city and state governments to more easily check to see if anti-discrimination and other laws are followed.
Airbnb was founded in San Francisco in 2008.
Airbnb dropped a lawsuit in New York in December which fines those who illegally list their properties on the company's website. Although litigation persists in some cities, Airbnb, with the settlement announced Monday, has cleared up court cases in two of its largest markets.
The settlement with San Francisco removes a regulatory hurdle faced by Airbnb as it prepares for a public stock offering. Removal of a lawsuit over regulatory issues can be seen as creation of a more stable business environment, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
Earlier this year, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said the company will be prepared to go public in one year.
