LAIR BNB
GOLD Coast property owners are furious the homes they paid more than $1 million for are being overrun by rowdy, bogan holidaymakers.
The exclusive suburbs of Broadbeach and Mermaid Waters have become saturated by the short-term accommodation market, with as many as seven properties up for grabs in each street. Homeaway, formerly known as Stayz, has 252 property listings in Broadbeach alone — the most expensive charging $2000 a night and the cheapest $162. Surfers Paradise has 493 listings.
About 11,000 Gold Coast properties are listed on holiday-letting sites.
GOLD Coast property owners are furious the homes they paid more than $1 million for are being overrun by rowdy, bogan holiday-makers.
The exclusive suburbs of Broadbeach and Mermaid Waters have become saturated by the short-term accommodation market, with as many as seven properties up for grabs in each street.
Homeaway, formerly known as Stayz, has 252 property listings in Broadbeach alone — the most expensive charging $2000 a night and the cheapest $162. Surfers Paradise has 493 listings.
About 11,000 Gold Coast properties are listed on holiday-letting sites.
Mermaid Waters resident Michael Corr became so frustrated with holiday-letting houses popping up in his suburb he started welivehere.org. The site has a petition and has counted the number of homes on holiday-letting sites.
He said nights had become a sleepless nightmare as neighbouring guests party, fight in the front yard, urinate on their fences and never let them sleep.
He is so fed up he wants all holiday letting to be banned in low-density residential areas. He said it should be restricted to the party strip such as Surfers Paradise.
“Holiday letting will never work within residential areas because these people don’t have to go to work tomorrow, the kids don’t have to be taken to school and we are not their neighbours so they don’t care if they keep us up,” the Gold Coast pilot said.
“It’s not like the normal neighbour who makes a bit of noise having a barbecue on the weekend. These people don’t care what day of the week or time of day it is.”
Sub-letting platforms Homeaway and Airbnb are part of a working group with the Department of Planning as the State Government grapples with how to handle angry neighbours and cashed-up hosts.
Both websites want to introduce a statewide policy instead of each council area drafting their own laws.
“This new regulatory system would include a threestrikes policy and be enforced by a new industry-funded body that adjudicates on the matters of amenity and standards in short-term rentals.”
Airbnb has implemented its own policy on rowdy properties before the State system has been decided.
“We have absolutely no tolerance for disruptive behaviour of any kind,” Airbnb’s head of public policy Australia and New Zealand Brent Thomas said.
“If a listing fails to uphold our community’s high standards, we will take action — including suspension or removal from the platform.”
The Bulletin last week revealed Gold Coast City Council was cutting down key boxes chained to power poles to stop homeowners illegally renting units to Airbnb guests.
Authorities said apartment owners were dodging $500,000 fines by asking visitors to find keys in hidden spots such as padlocked boxes, garden beds and under witches hats.
They are doing it to flout body corporate laws, escape increased insurance and security payments, and to avoid having their property rezoned as short-term accommodation.
Fed-up body corporates have written to Gold Coast and state politicians claiming their unit blocks are being overrun by illegal guests. They are also concerned lawabiding owners may not be covered from fire or damage that starts in adjourning apartments.
Mr Corr said the companies needed to be proactive or the Gold Coast could follow other cities in outing the short-term rentals.
In 2016, New York banned short-term rentals less than 30 days; Paris owners need a city permit and in March Berlin introduced laws forcing property owners to seek council approval before renting out their properties short-term.
With Australia, Mornington Peninsula Shire Council has proposed a law to ban guests from having visitors and using outdoor areas between 10pm-8am.
However, Broadbeach councillor Paul Taylor said he did not hear too many concerns about noisy holiday lets since the council introduced new laws.
Over the past three years the number of complaints about party houses on the Gold Coast have dropped from 106 in 2016 to 22 so far this year.
Meanwhile, the number of complaints for short-term rentals has increased, from 32 in 2016 to 54 so far this year.
HOLIDAY LETTING WILL NEVER WORK WITHIN RESIDENTIAL AREAS BECAUSE THESE PEOPLE DON’T HAVE TO GO TO WORK TOMORROW, THE KIDS DON’T HAVE TO BE TAKEN TO SCHOOL AND WE ARE NOT THEIR NEIGHBOURS SO THEY DON’T CARE IF THEY KEEP US UP
MERMAID WATERS RESIDENT MICHAEL CORR
THE digital revolution has enhanced our lives in so many ways.
We now have access to the world’s collective knowledge, literally in the palms of our hands.
We are liberated from the drudgeon of waiting for just about anything.
We can arrange home loans, buy cars, secure jobs, and create businesses without leaving home.
We can connect with loved ones across the globe as if they’re in our living room.
And the price of so many consumer goods and services has collapsed as data shreds the cost of production.
But of course there’s a cost.
We pay for this revolution in many ways, from our loss of privacy to our growing addiction to the screen.
Social media has breathed new malevolent life into bullying and shaming, on a grander scale. And job security has become an oxymoron as the digitisation of everything kills traditional employment.
The latest opportunity-cost debate to hit our city concerns holiday accommodation.
Digital innovation has delivered more choice for travellers and a way for 11,000 property owners on the Gold Coast to earn money through sub-letting websites such as Airbnb and Homeaway.
But, as the world learned with Uber, Ebay and Napster, these fabulous new services create problems of their own. Sub-letting websites are no exception. Regulators have failed to keep pace with the explosion of these platforms. Their growth has been so rapid it has sparked backlash from communities across the planet. The unforeseen problems include neighbours living alongside what have become party houses, guests disrespecting common rooms and body corporates left vulnerable because their insurance policies do not cover this service.
On the Gold Coast, it is entirely understandable that a sudden influx of Airbnb homes will upset neighbouring homeowners. People who have bought a home believing it to be in a quiet area may find themselves next door to a home converted into a party-central holiday dwelling. It’s akin to a de-facto rezoning by stealth.
To Airbnb and Homeaway’s credit they are calling on the Queensland Government to introduce regulations that will protect homeowners and minimise disruption to neighbourhoods. Both groups are involved in a workshop, calling on the introduction of laws which would ban hosts from listing on websites after continuous breaches to community standards.
That may not be an entirely altruistic gesture — both companies recognise that if nothing is done they can be shut out of a community. Air BNB-style short-term rentals have been banned in New York while Paris and Berlin have introduced draconian rezoning laws. In Barcelona, Airbnb was fined almost $1 million for continuing to advertise unlicensed flats.
In any case, it should not be the tail wagging the dog. The State Government must get ahead of this issue before it overwhelms it and we have another Uber-style citizen revolt.
Any business innovation —especially one of this scale — must not be allowed to prosper at the expense of our collective quality of life.