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Time to look at rentals
HE booming short-stay accommodation market is a controversial subject in our community, amid ongoing revelations that hundreds of properties have been taken off the long-term rental market — exacerbating the record low vacancy rates in our capital city and fuelling the housing crisis. And amid the controversy, there remains total confusion among authorities about how best to respond.
It would be hard to find a better example of that confusion than around what played out yesterday between Hobart’s Lord Mayor Ron Christie and his deputy Peter Sexton. It started when Alderman Sexton used the Mercury to call on Hobartians to “dob in a neighbour” who they suspected had their home listed on sites like Airbnb and Stayz but not registered it with the council — as you are supposed to do, across Tasmania, if your property has more than four bookable rooms. Within hours, Lord Mayor Christie took to Facebook to declare Ald Sexton was being “unAustralian” — and “we (council) are not about dobbing in a neighbour”.
Well, that might well be the case. But here’s the rub: only about 60 visitor accommodation sites have been approved by the Hobart Council so far this financial year. And yet, there are an estimated 876 entire homes being offered for short-stay accommodation websites in the city. So there appears to be somewhat of a significant disconnect there.
The challenge began last July, when a single statewide planning scheme took effect which allowed homeowners to let up to four rooms in their homes without a permit. Everyone else — those with larger homes, investment properties and shacks — were then
Housing Minister Roger Jaensch says he has no plans to change the rules ... it might be time to rethink that position.
supposed to fill in a form to self-declare that their property meets minimum safety standards. But as Ald Sexton pointed out, it is “difficult for councils to determine whether a property is complying”.
Nobody — not councils, nor the government — apparently has any idea how many properties are up for short-term rent. As Tourism Industry Council chief executive Luke Martin said yesterday, if our authorities “are having to rely on Airbnb itself to offer up that information, there is something clearly wrong”.
The closest we have to any independent figures came in a University of Tasmania study in February that estimated one in 27 residential properties in Hobart is now listed on Airbnb alone — up from one in 100 just 18 months ago. It is hard to believe that is not having a significant impact on an already historically tight rental market.
It is, then, no coincidence that the State Government last week unveiled plans to pay up to 110 approved landlords $13,000 a year on top of their normal rent as an incentive to offer their homes to Tasmanians “who are finding it tough to secure affordable rental properties”. While they won’t actually admit it, the policy is essentially designed to be a way to get 110 homes out of the short-stay market and back as long-term, affordable, rentals — at taxpayer expense!
Housing Minister Roger Jaensch says he has no plans to change the rules around short-stay rentals. But considering all of the above, the Mercury believes it might be time to rethink that position.