Latest Granny Flat news 2021 by Quickest Built Homes
A 180-day cap on using empty properties for Airbnb-style letting will be expanded beyond greater Sydney to a number of coastal areas and regional centres in NSW, as part of state-wide planning rules which have drawn criticism from councils and holiday rental company Stayz.
The extension of the annual cap to Newcastle, Ballina, the Bega Valley, Dubbo, and parts of the Clarence Valley and Muswellbrook areas is included in the new rules for short-term rental accommodation that will come into force on July 30.
The move is a departure from government plans announced in 2018 which allowed councils outside of greater Sydney to have the power to impose their own caps, no fewer than 180 days a year.
The government has said the 180-day cap is designed to reduce the potential “unintended consequences” of Airbnb-style letting on rental affordability.
NSW Planning Department deputy secretary Marcus Ray said the agency had invited councils outside of greater Sydney to nominate whether they wanted the 180-day cap to apply to their areas. “This new framework follows extensive consultation with the community and the holiday-letting industry,” he said.
But Local Government NSW president Linda Scott said the new rules eroded councils’ planning powers and flew in the face of government assurances that regional councils would retain control of the caps in their areas.
“This new policy takes away councils’ ability to make a decision on what is the appropriate amount of short-term rental accommodation,” she said. “Councils need to balance the interests of their existing residents and pressures of housing affordability with the important jobs that are created by the tourism industry.”
NSW became the first Australian state to regulate Airbnb-style letting in 2018, when it passed a suite of planning laws mandating a cap of 180 days for investment properties in greater Sydney. Previously, it was up to each council to have its own rules regarding short-term letting.Advertisement
Stayz, which is owned by online holiday giant Expedia, slammed the introduction of the short-term rental rules as a “slow-moving wreck”, claiming it will hit the state’s fragile tourism economy.
It is demanding a delay of at least six months to the introduction of the rules to allow for further consultation and trials of the regulatory framework.
Stayz corporate affairs director Eacham Curry said the implementation had been rushed and not in the spirit with which the entire regulatory framework was crafted and agreed.
“We have been warning the NSW government for more than a year about the risks of a rushed and disjointed introduction of these new necessary regulations,” he said.
Mr Curry said Stayz was disappointed by the government’s decision to extend night caps to key regional areas where traditional accommodation was limited and tourism was an important economic driver.
“The extension of night caps for our sector just as the green shoots of recovery are starting to take hold will act as a blow to the state’s fragile tourist economy,” he said.
Airbnb’s head of public policy, Derek Nolan, said the company was working through the changes to ensure its members were properly equipped to understand how these measures applied to them.
The Byron Shire has a special exemption from the rules until January next year, or until the local council’s proposal that seeks to limit short-term rental accommodation to 90 days is determined. The shire covers the popular North Cost beachside holiday destinations of Byron Bay and Brunswick Heads.
