Residential committees are hitting back at apartment owners and tenants who sublet with the site, blaming bad behaviour for the move to stamp out the unofficial bed-and-breakfast businesses.

And home-owners who sublet their properties could be liable for thousands of dollars worth of damage because they are not covered by insurance.

An apartment building in Rushcutters Bay is understood to be moving to ban the use of Airbnb, its communal swimming pool inundated with weekend revellers making the most of its proximity to Kings Cross' nightlife.

Rod Smith, general manager of one of Sydney's largest strata management companies, Strata Title Management, said in the past six months he has seen more and more residential committee members approaching his team for advice on how to tackle the problem.

"It's quite significant and widespread," he said of the complaints. "It's not one or two, it's a number of our city buildings combating this."

He said that main objections are behaviour-based, and include "bucks parties raging on til all hours" and that a committee meeting at a city block on Thursday night specifically targeted Airbnb. Committees of most residential buildings, he said, do not allow short term letting, defined as under three months in length and without signed leases.

"They are taking all necessary action against offending owners to restrict the practice to meet council zoning requirements," he said, citing tightened security as one solution to the problem.

A cursory search of the American-owned lodging site shows more than 1000 homes and apartments in Sydney open to the paying visitor, from a Bondi family home rented for $1100 a night over the Christmas period to newlyweds paying off debts by letting the spare room of their rented flat for $50 a night.

The promise of cash encourages many homeowners and tenants to sidestep regulations, including health and safety requirements.

Steve Webb, the general manager of Sydney Strata, said that while he does his best to help disgruntled homeowners and tenants, it is councils alone which have the power to stop Airbnb hosts from operating.

"We can't enter the lot in question without the owner's authorisation, the only thing we can do is issue them with a letter acknowledging that we think it is a problem, then we issue a breach notice, then, worse case scenario, council is involved."

Both Mr Smith and Mr Webb said the problem is by no means limited to Airbnb and that revisions to current strata laws would clarify the legal grey area.

"You can never totally eradicate it but we think the measures against offenders are going to get stricter and stricter," Mr Smith said.

In another blow, home owners using online short-term accommodation services such as AirBnB or house swapping services such as HomeExchange.com and LoveHomeSwap.com are being left exposed because home and contents insurance policies of some insurers do not cover lettings.

Before property owners let others in they should be beware there is a lack of consistency over how insurers treat short-term lettings.

Some insurers cover the letting period as long as the property owner informs them beforehand.

Others view short-term lettings as carrying on a business, which voids the cover unless the home-owner buys another policy from the insurer or pays an additional premium.

Campbell Fuller, a spokesperson for the Insurance Council of Australia, said home owners need to check with their insurer.

"Don't assume that your home and contents policies will cover you," he said. "You may need to consider a more appropriate form of policy."

Those who are not covered will be left paying for any damage to the property.

Another concern is that home-owners can be left without legal or public liability cover, which is part of a home and contents policy.

If the policies are voided the homeowner is exposed to potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation should the renter be injured in the property and take legal action against the owner.

"It is an uncommon issue [legal action] but the exposure from these public liability claims is huge," Mr Fuller said.