Short-Term holiday letting under microscope
The NSW Government is calling on community and stakeholder feedback after the release of an Options Paper on short-term holiday letting.
The Options Paper is the next step in determining the most effective way for the NSW Government to respond to the growth of this industry, which includes Airbnb and Stayz, and builds on the advice of the NSW Parliament Legislative Assembly Committee on Environment and Planning.
Minster for Planning, Anthony Roberts, said that the Government is seeking views and comments including on:
- Industry self-regulation, including a code of conduct, complaints management, education, monitoring and reporting;
- Strata regulation, including by-laws managing visitor behavior, by-laws for compensation for adverse effects and by-laws prohibiting STHL;
- Planning regulation, including development approval, limit of length of stay and number of days per year, limit by number of bedrooms and regulate by whether host is present;
- Registration to manage safety and amenity issues.
The options paper replaces the 12 holiday letting proposals that came out of the Coure report into holiday letting legislation that received ‘qualified support’ from the State Government.
The rapid change and growth seen in the industry has meant that reports designed to provide advice on the industry are quickly out of date with additional regulatory or legal changes having an impact on the landscape.
The recent declaration by Fair Trading that any strata by-laws banning short-term letting were invalid will have an impact on the Government’s thinking on the issue.
The Property Council is currently considering the paper and will seek members’ views before submitting a comprehensive response.