New rules for short-term holiday letting
A mandatory code of conduct for short-term holiday letting, such as through Airbnb and HomeAway, will crack down on bad behaviour.
The NSW Government’s short-term holiday letting plan will address impacts on residents, such as noise levels, disruptive guests and effects on shared neighbourhood amenities.
Owners corporations will be able to adopt a by-law, with a 75 per cent majority, to stop short-term letting in their block if the host does not live in the unit they are letting out.
The code of conduct will also include a new dispute resolution process to resolve complaints. Guests or hosts who commit two serious breaches of the code within two years will be banned for five years and listed on an exclusion register.
NSW Fair Trading will monitor the online booking platforms and letting agents.
New planning laws will also be introduced that will limit the number of days a host can rent out their property each year. Greater Sydney will be limited to 180 days, while the rest of the state will have no limits.
Councils outside of Greater Sydney will be able to set their own short-term holiday letting rule rules, no lower than 180 days per year.
Minister for Planning and Housing Anthony Roberts said the 180-day limit approximately equates to weekends, school holidays and public holidays.
“The NSW Government felt this was a fair and balanced approach,” Mr Roberts said.
“Councils outside Greater Sydney can decide if permitting short-term holiday letting for the entire year is acceptable for their local communities. This recognises the importance of tourism in some regional communities.”