Kiama Council looking into the 180-day cap on Airbnb properties

The NSW Department of Planning's 180-day cap is designed to counteract potential "unintended consequences" of short term holiday letting on rental affordability but it was condemned by Stayz for being "a slow-moving wreck" and a blow to the state's delicate tourism industry.

The rules were extended from the Greater Sydney area to include Ballina, Newcastle, the Bega valley and a few other regional council areas. Councils who wish to join have until November 1 to implement the policy which is three months longer than was originally planned.

Cr Reilly said choosing to opt in to the new legislation would be a strategic decision and should be taken by councillors.

He said the situation was very fluid but he planned to request council staff prepare a report so councillors could be made aware of their options surrounding the new legislation.

Read more:

Back in August 2020, councillor Kathy Rice put forward a motion which directed council staff to prepare a case for reducing the non-hosted short-term rental accommodation period in Kiama from 365 days to 180 days per year. The motion was passed.

In response, Stayz urged Kiama Municipal Council to drop the plans to restrict the availability of holiday homes.

Stayz Corporate Affairs Director, Eacham Curry said a night cap will fail to meaningfully address the cited concerns of council and will rather result in holiday homes sitting unused for longer.

The new short term rental accommodation framework will work in conjunction with a statewide code of conduct for short-term rentals which started on 18 December 2020 and is administered by Fair Trading.

Under the code, rowdy guests who host disruptive parties may be banned for five years from short term holiday services. A 'two strikes and you're out' policy applies to hosts who receive complaints over two years.

Mr Curry said the additional time is vital to ensuring the smooth rollout of the important reforms to the rules for short-term rental accommodation.

"Stayz is a strong supporter of a register of all short-term rental listings and a code of conduct for our industry. The additional time is an opportunity for the NSW Government to get the implementation of new rules for our sector back on track," Mr Curry said.

However, Cr Reilly said it is very difficult for councils to enact the enforcement of the code.

He said the situation with short term holiday rentals was a "wicked problem" - meaning it is so complex and dependent on many factors that it is incredibly difficult to tackle.

"Here in Kiama, we certainly don't have hotel and motel kind of accommodation that's appropriate for the number of tourists that we get. So we really rely on short term rental accommodation to take up that slack," he said.

He said all but a few places in Kiama were well run but the experience of some residents had been "horrendous".

"You can imagine living next door to a place that has 14 or 15 people every weekend and during school holidays it can be every day. Your life can be ruined," he said.

He said council does not have the legislative power, the training or the people to enforce legislation.

"The police are busy doing what police do. They will help with noise but there's not much they can do really," he said.

He wanted council to implement three things; to develop a communication channel with short term rental platforms, to look into raising rates for absentee hosts and to require disqualified hosts lodge development applications as recourse for getting back onto the platforms.

Shoalhaven City Council did not nominate to be included in the 180-day cap when the draft was put forward about 12 months ago.

Shoalhaven Strategic Planning Manager Gordon Clarke said council had no evidence at the time the draft was put forward, to support whether or not a cap would be useful as "there is no limitation on short term rental accommodation in the Shoalhaven".

Mr Clarke said Shoalhaven council will not seek to be included in the new 180 day cap rule but reserved the right to be included some time in the future, should it be necessary.

Mr Clarke rejected imposing a cap on certain areas of the Shoalhaven, like Berry for example, which is more densely populated with Airbnbs than other parts of the region.

He said it would be hard to implement in discrete areas.

"You have to be careful that you don't have a range of impacts that you didn't foresee just because you selected a [cap with a] particular number," he said.