Share homes feel the heat
Fire service, Airbnb at odds over risk
THE Tasmanian Fire Service says all self-contained visitor accommodation listings – such as Airbnb – in bushfire prone areas should get a risk assessment and fire safety plan as summer approaches.
As one of the three cofounders of Airbnb, billionaire Joe Gebbia, met Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman this week over the state’s deregulation of the industry, the TFS again reiterated its concerns about the rapid growth in selfcontained visitor accommodation in the state.
Last week the Sunday Tasmanian reported the state’s fire service believed changes to the statewide planning scheme — which allowed homeowners to cash in on the popularity of Airbnb and Stayz — had been made without taking into account the deadly potential of bushfires.
At the second day of public hearings by the Tasmanian Planning Commission into changes, the TFS representatives said they had “serious concerns” around a planning “loophole” that could leave tourists in danger in the event of a bushfire with self-contained visitor accommodation dwellings not requiring an emergency plan.
The state’s fire service outlined a number of proposals that included Airbnb hosts in bushfire prone zones getting an approved fire safety plan.
Airbnb’s Australian head of public policy Brent Thomas said the company would work with the TFS and would try to implement the partnership that operates in Victoria.
“We are very happy to sit down and have a discussion,” he said.
“We are really looking forward to sitting down with Chris Arnol [TFS chief officer] because I think there is a lot that we can do together.”
But Mr Thomas said Airbnb hosts having to dig into their own pocket to get risk assessments and fire safety plan would be of “enormous concern” to their community.
“The regulations here are world class and anything that takes away or adds costs, time or burden for hosts, would take away from that dramatically,” he said.
“Hosts in Tasmania should not need a lawyer or a bucket of money to share out their house.”