Airbnb wants national rules for short term rental accommodation

Monday, 17 February 2020

Airbnb has had a huge impact on the accommodation sector in New Zealand. (Video first published in February 2020)

Airbnb is pushing for national regulations covering short term rental accommodation in New Zealand as more local authorities look at cracking down on the sector.

It has support from Bookabach which is also keen to avoid a situation where councils around the country start imposing different rules.

The two peer-to-peer accommodation providers, with more than 60,000 listings between them, want a national database of all hosts to assist with enforcement and to ensure properties repeatedly hosting rowdy guests were blacklisted.

Airbnb's head of public policy for New Zealand Derek Nolan has met with Government officials, Local Government New Zealand, metropolitan mayors and tourism bodies to put the case for a national approach to regulation, and is seeking to set up a working group on the issue.

**READ MORE:

Airbnb is arguing for a national database of all short term accommodation providers to help councils come to grips with the size of the industry and work out how to regulate it.

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Hotels and motels losing business to Airbnb operators want councils to make them meet the same safety regulations applied to other commercial accommodation providers.

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He said much of the finer detail still had to be worked through, such as who would handle enforcement of any regulations and how to pay for it.

Under the Airbnb proposal, hosts accommodating guests in their own homes would not need planning permission.

Nor would they have to meet the kind of fire safety and other standards expected of motels, B & Bs and hotels because Nolan said the vast majority of Airbnb hosts were letting out a spare room in their family home.

'We think if it's considered safe for a family to live in, if it's considered safe to have your cousins to stay for the weekend, it should be safe for someone to stay in your home for an evening without have to get special dispensation.'

He said a national code of conduct would mean hosts whose guests regularly upset the neighbourhood with their behaviour could be banned from the industry and could not simply shift to another advertising platform.

Bookabach and corporate affairs director Eacham Curry agreed that central government needed to set the rules.

'[Otherwise] we fear bach owners will be left stranded to deal with the vagaries of local government boundaries and an increasing number of councils changing rules on a whim.

'Bookabach advocates for national regulation that contains a simple registration scheme for all short-term rental listings, a code of conduct that is backed by a strikes-based disciplinary regime, and an industry body to adjudicate compliance with the code.'

The call comes as more councils look at ways to regulate short term rentals.

Christchurch City Council has sought public feedback on measures that could include restricting areas where whole house rentals were permitted, or limiting the number of days a house could be listed for.

The number of short terms lets in the Christchurch Banks Peninsula area has gone from 114 to more than 2100 in three years, and commercial accommodation providers claim they are facing unfair competition from hosts who do not face the same compliance costs.

Last year Statistics NZ estimated Kiwis renting out properties through sites such as Airbnb earned more than $550m in the year to March 2018, but annual revenue could be as high as $700m.