Illawarra residents have a week left to express their thoughts on the regulation of the short-term holiday letting (STHL) industry.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In 2016, the NSW Legislative Assembly Committee on Environment and Planning conducted an inquiry into the adequacy of regulation for short-term holiday letting in NSW, including home-sharing websites like Airbnb and Stayz.
The state government has been seeking community and stakeholder feedback after July’s release of an options paper on STHL.
The paper is available online for feedback until October 31.
Potential options the government is seeking views on include industry self-regulation, such as a code of conduct, complaints management, education, monitoring and reporting; and strata regulation, including by-laws managing visitor behavior, by-laws for compensation for adverse effects and by-laws prohibiting STHL.
Other potential options are limiting the length of stays and number of days per year that a dwelling can be used as STHL. Registration or licensing to manage safety and amenity issues is another option.
Stayz recently released a report indicating that in the Illawarra/South Coast region, short-term rental accommodation generated more than $266.8 million in economic uplift and supported up to 1778 jobs in 2016.
Performance-based short-term rental specialist MadeComfy has joined forces with Stayz to respond to the options put forward by the government.
Both companies have made several recommendations, including industry-owned regulation such as a code of conduct be established for short-term rental properties to ensure safety and high property management standard.
Other suggested measures include the set-up of an industry-funded body to settle disputes and act as a communication channel between government, the community and industry.
Stayz head of government relations Eacham Curry said the regional holiday letting industry had been around for decades, and was a significant contributor to regional economies.
“It is encouraging that MadeComfy are supportive of the changes we are recommending to the NSW Government options paper on short-term rentals.
“While we have existed as an industry for years with self-regulation we are open to their being a light touch approach to ensuring that holiday rentals can exist for years to come.”
However, the Neighbours Not Strangers group have criticised platforms such as Airbnb when they push homes away from residential use and into short-term lets.
They believe share accommodation providers can have an adverse impact on housing supply, as well as rental and housing affordability.
“Although there are claims (short-term rental accommodation) is great because it brings tourists into areas like the Illawarra… (In many commissioned reports) there are no negatives applied to the effects of removing housing from our housing stock,” convenor Trish Burt told the Mercury earlier this year.
“You also have people in suburban areas and in strata properties who have really done their due diligence when they’ve purchased and moved into these residential areas or buildings, only to be faced with living in unregulated and unmanned hotel-style buildings.”
Brent Thomas, head of Public Policy ANZ at Airbnb said, “Airbnb is an economic lifeline for everyday people in the Illawarra”.
“It helps mums and dads, seniors and young families make a little more money to pay the mortgage or bills.
“Also, blaming Airbnb for housing affordability is as absurd as blaming smashed avocados - it just doesn’t stack up.”
According to Deloitte Access Economics figures, Airbnb’s top four destinations in NSW outside of the Sydney region are Byron Bay, Nowra, Newcastle and Wollongong.
Meanwhile, the ‘Our Strata Community, Our Choice’ campaign is encouraging strata residents in Wollongong to respond to the options paper before the October 31 deadline.
Campaign spokesperson Stephen Goddard said now is the time to speak up about how “discount tourism” is regulated in NSW strata buildings, and push for apartment owners to have a fair say.
“The residents who have to live alongside short-term tourists, share facilities with them and pay for the extra wear and tear they cause, should have a say on if they are allowed,” Mr Goddard said.
“It is an entirely reasonable proposition that strata communities should be able to collectively decide whether or not they host tourists using these apps.
“The alternative – that buildings don’t have that say – is entirely unfair, and the equivalent of the government saying to strata communities, ‘tourists get a cheap holiday, and you get the bill’.
“So we urgently need to use this process to make it clear that owners’ corporations should be able to allow or disallow short-term tourism facilitated by companies like Airbnb.”
Following the consultation period, the state government will consider submissions and decide what regulatory approach it will pursue for STHL.
