AirBNB – 2 strikes and you’re out!

In this day and age, you would be hard pressed to find someone who hasn’t heard about the short term property renting phenomenon, AirBNB. Property owners with spare rooms or vacant properties advertise online for tourists to rent their home or apartment for a week or even a single night at a fraction of the cost of a hotel in what would appear to be a “win/win” for owner and visitor.

Unsurprisingly however, whilst this “Uber” of the property market has some property owners grinning, their neighbours aren’t as impressed. Parties, excessive noise and even fatalities are just some of the issues that owner occupiers are facing on a regular basis. Competing hotel operators are also concerned, that minimal regulation and low overheads of short term landlords will price them out of the market.

Enter the NSW government.

New legislation introduced this month has been dubbed the ‘toughest yet‘ in the fight to balance the interests of landlords and owner occupiers alike.

Under the new rules, short term landlords will be limited to renting their property for a maximum number of days per year. Strata schemes will also be able to ban short term renting in their complex if 75% of owners agree. Owner occupiers who rent out only part of their property will be exempt from the restrictions.

Additionally, a new mandatory code of conduct will be implemented. This code provides that individuals who commit 2 serious breaches in 2 years, will face a 5 year ban from the short term rental industry by way of an industry black list.

The framework is still undergoing final amendments, but its final touches is anticipated to make landfall in 2019.