Party’s over for rentals

Bad behaviour on notice

THE days of renting a holiday house on the Bellarine Peninsula and Surf Coast for the weekend and throwing a party may be numbered.

State Upper House MPs are scheduled next week to debate legislation to stamp out bad behaviour in short-stay accommodation in private homes.

Lower House MPs approved the Bill in 2016, but an Upper House committee inquiry has delivered a number of recommendations for amendments.

But councils in the Geelong region said it remained difficult to regulate the use of private homes as commercial short-stay accommodation.

While Geelong and Surf Coast have no bylaws regulating private short-stay accommodation, the Mornington Peninsula Shire this week revealed new laws that could become a blueprint for other municipalities policing socalled party houses.

Surf Coast Shire Mayor David Bell said amenity issues arising from short-term accommodation venues advertising through portals such as Airbnb and Stayz were not well-regulated across Victoria.

“This is an issue we need to monitor, and we’ll be watching closely how Mornington Peninsula Shire’s proposed local law progresses,” Cr Bell said.

The Mornington Peninsula laws require registration identifying a property’s owner, a nominated agent who must respond to complaints within two hours, a code of conduct and penalties for breaches.

The laws prevent party houses and ban use of swimming pools, balconies and decks from 10pm-8am.

City of Greater Geelong finance and strategy director Peter Anderson said short-stay accommodation was a complicated area to regulate and monitor.

Surf Coast Shire properties listed as short-term rentals are not required to pay a commercial property rate, but a mixed use differential rate is applied in Geelong if a principal place of residence is used for shortterm accommodation.

In the Borough of Queenscliff there is a two-tiered differential rate for commercial and tourist accommodation properties, depending on whether a property has more or less than five bedrooms.

Great Ocean Properties, Aireys Inlet agent Marty Maher said renting a property on Airbnb or Stayz had potential to create extra income but wasn’t the prime motivation for most buyers on the coast.

“The rental return is just not good enough to justify the whole purchase but it does help subsidise some of the costs around it,” he said.

He said owners often rented out their holiday houses when not using them themselves.

He said large four-bedroom houses within two hours of Melbourne were the most sought-after for buyers keen on creating short-stay accommodation.

“Anything within two hours of Melbourne is considered reasonable. Anglesea, Aireys Inlet and Lorne would be good targets, as would Barwon Heads and Queenscliff on the Bellarine Peninsula,” Mr Maher said.