Crowded houses normal situation
THE soaring popularity of Queenstown as a working holiday destination and the rise of Airbnb has led to people moving into some unconventional and often very crowded accommodation.
A camper van in a garage and single bunks have been advertised on RentEzi for people in Queenstown.
Property manager Conrad Goodger, who owns 10 Queenstown properties along with several associates, said his flatshares were full 99% of the time ‘‘since the day Airbnb came to town’’.
He said people who would otherwise rent out their Queenstown residences to itinerant workers were instead turning them into shortterm Airbnb accommodation.
Mr Goodger said most of the rooms in his properties were twinshare, some were three to a room and he had two large rooms which slept four.
He also offers accommodation in a camper van inside a garage for $170 a week, although the tenant also has access to the main house.
‘‘I don’t really see what the problem is. It’s fully legal,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s not for everyone . . . but the guy that’s living in there loves it at the moment. He’s got his own personal space.’’
Mr Goodger said that last year he lived in one of his sixbedroom houses with 17 other people.
‘‘Big beautiful house in Queenstown. We had a great time with our flatmates . . . we were sharing a great house with two bathrooms and two showers. I never had any problems. Maybe I had to wait 10 minutes for a shower once every month or two.’’
Until the advent of Airbnb, Mr Goodger said he had struggled for 25 years to get enough tenants. Now he could not be busier.
He rejected the notion that he was taking advantage of people desperate for somewhere to stay.
‘‘You’ve got a desperate situation in Queenstown and we supply our tenants with very good electricity, toilet paper, rubbish bags, friends and everything.
‘‘To be honest, when I was living with 17 other flatmates in that same house . . . there’s noone there half the time. They’re all working 4060 hours a week. I’d get up and there’d be noone home.’’
Queenstown Lakes Mayor Jim Boult said the council was displeased about the current situation in the town.
‘‘We are not happy with large numbers of people sharing one house. It’s just not a good thing and we’re worried about sanitary issues.’’
The council was looking at proposals to address the housing problem, including working with developers with a view to building student hall of residencestyle accommodation, possibly in Gorge Rd.
‘‘This is not a new situation. I’ve lived here for 35 years and rental accommodation for both permanent residents and itinerant workers has always been an issue,’’ Mr Boult said.
‘‘It’s become more of an issue in recent times, as a result of Airbnb. A lot of the houses that were rented out to itinerant workers are now Airbnb for the obvious fact that the owners get a better rate of return.
‘‘But until more accommodation is built, it’s a doubleedged sword, because if we start trying to restrict the number of people in these houses, then where are they going to go?’’
In January, the Queenstown Lakes District Council sent letters to nearly 800 unregistered properties it had identified as being used for shortterm and holiday rentals.
Property owners have had since 2014 to register their properties.
About 34% of the property owners initially identified by the council in January have signed declarations they are not advertising holiday accommodation.
Depending on the situation and how many nights paying guests stayed, some properties could have 25% added to their rates. — The New Zealand Herald