Consultation over Airbnb regulation
WEST Coast residents are being asked for their opinion on how councils should regulate Airbnbs and other unhosted visitor accommodation.
The number of Airbnbs on the West Coast has nearly doubled in the past three years, from 452 to 861, according to the team drafting rules for the new Te Tai o Poutini combined district plan.
Of those, 629 are entire home rentals, the largest numbers being in Franz Josef, Hokitika, Punakaiki and Westport.
‘‘We have heard from many communities about how this is impacting local towns on the West Coast and we would really like to get their feedback on how they think it should be managed so we can make the right decisions on their behalf,’’ Project manager Jo Armstrong said in a statement.
One of the main concerns had been the impact on rental properties.
‘‘Community feedback in some smaller settlements is that this has resulted in increased prices for longerterm rental accommodation and a housing shortage so that workers, older adults and young families can’t move into a community.’’
Where shortterm rentals made up a big proportion of the housing in places such as Punakaiki, people had complained they had reduced the community’s size, school rolls and volunteer fire brigades, Ms Armstrong said.
Concerns had also been raised over noise from shortterm rentals operating as ‘‘party houses’’ and holidaying behaviour, parking, traffic and pressure on water systems.
Two options were available for regulating Airbnbs, Ms Armstrong said.
One was to make them a restricted discretionary activity with no resource consent needed, but to control use by restricting guest numbers to five and a maximum use of 180 days a year.
‘‘Restricting the number of days per year of use for shortterm rentals has been identified as a key way to reduce the impact on the longerterm rental market.
‘‘Typically, Airbnbs on the West Coast sleep up to five people, and this is a normal ‘carload’. If someone wanted to have more people, or more days of rental, a more complex resource consent would be required and public notification would be possible.’’
The second option was to make Airbnbs, other unhosted visitor accommodation and homestays a permitted residential activity.
Again, no resource consent would be needed but the accommodation would have to comply with the Building Act.
That option would substantially reduce the regulatory requirements for residential visitor accommodation, Ms Armstrong said.
‘‘Prior notification to the district council and Building Act compliance certification would still be required but no other approvals would be needed from the council.’’
A questionnaire and more information about the proposed new rules for Airbnbs and other residential development is available on the Te Tai o Poutini Plan website, in the ‘‘have your say’’ section. — Greymouth Star/Local
Democracy Reporting