Airbnb needs to be regulated — minister
KOTA KINABALU: Airbnb has to be regulated with proper guidelines in view of the growing popularity of the room-letting website.
Minister of Special Tasks Datuk Teo Chee Kang said regulating Airbnb was necessary so as not to cause inconvenience to other residents in an apartment or condominium building, as well as to safeguard the interests of travellers who booked their accommodation on the website.
He said it was also important for potential house buyers to be made known at the onset before signing the sales and purchase agreement or during the promotion of the development project as to whether the property was under commercial zoning, and thus open to Airbnb.
“If not it will be quite unfair to purchasers,”Teo said during a courtesy call by Royal Institution of Surveyors Malaysia (RISM) Sabah branch committee led by Raja Sundra Lingam @ Sunny Kelvin here yesterday.
Teo was invited as the guest of honour to officiate at the 5th Sabah International Surveyors’ Congress 2017, themed “Property Investment Breakthrough” on August 21.
The congress, which will be held at Magellan Sutera Resort on August 21 and 22, features 17 speakers covering a range of topics including Tanjung Aru Eco Development (TAED), Airbnb, Kota Kinabalu City Hall’s guideline for Airbnb and high-rise building construction and green technology.