‘Tread carefully’ call on holiday rental rules

HOLIDAY rental website Bookabach has urged West Coast councils to ‘‘tread carefully’’ over new rules proposed in the Te Tai o Poutini Plan, a combined plan for Westland, Grey and Buller.

Draft regulations in the plan would apply to shortterm unhosted rental accommodation throughout the region, including the likes of Airbnb and Bookabach.

Measures under consideration include restrictions on bookings for more than five guests, and limiting use to 180 nights a year.

Bookabach corporate affairs director Eacham Curry said yesterday the proposed restrictions needed rethinking.

‘‘Bookabach understands the desire for action by local government. However, night caps and arbitrary restrictions will fail to resolve the most commonly cited questions about holiday rental accommodation.’’

Mr Curry said the restrictions would put the economic uplift associated with the tourism sector at risk, and did not address the four most consistently raised questions about the industry: housing affordability, housing availability, the impact on council resources and service provision, and the impact on neighbourhood amenity.

‘‘Rather than arbitrary restrictions, Bookabach advocates for national regulation that contains a simple registration scheme for all holiday rental listings, a code of conduct that is backed by a strikesbased disciplinary regime, and an industry body to adjudicate compliance with the code of conduct.’’

Limiting the number of people allowed in a holiday rental would not address questions about neighbourhood amenity, he said.

‘‘Our research shows that limits on the number of people allowed in a bach — whether it's six, eight, 10 or more people — will not resolve questions about amenity as effectively as a robust, mandatory code of conduct that is backed by penalties for poor behaviour.’’

Treating hosted and unhosted accommodation differently would mean only one segment of the industry was completely covered by planning rules, Mr Curry said.

‘‘As a result, amenity concerns about hosted listings will be left unresolved and it will open the door to an unfair playing field for mum and dad holiday bach owners.’’ — Greymouth Star/LDR