› Forums › Living in strata › Just what we need – another crowd cashes in on the Airbnb boom › Current Page
@Millie said:
OCN were the first ones to suggest that a mere strata by-law should override the Certificates of Classification (National Construction Codes) and the Determination of Development Application on Residential Strata buildings. Our Politicians, Airbnb & Mob have of course seized upon this.
Perhaps they have seized on the “all or nothing” approach by some campaigners to divide the anti-Airbnb lobby. Blaming OCN for not stopping Airbnb completely is like blaming Churchill for not defeating the USSR as well as the Nazis.
Airbnb is sweeping through Australia like a virus. NSW has achieved the very best outcome of all the states. Had it not been for OCN, we would probably be looking at the same situation as Melbourne where there are no restrictions and Airbnb listings have gone through the roof. The model Airbnb wanted us to have – their deal in Tasmania – has led to the government paying landlords to put their properties back in the residential market.
This is a political question that required a political answer. It’s all very well to quote the law and insist that things should be done a certain way, but when your political leaders and local councils can’t wait to take the Airbnb dollar – and are scared of their campaigning power, black letter legal arguments count for nothing.
Queensland will be next to go down, even though its laws are absolutely unequivocal – Class 2 apartment blocks are “not for tourism”. But they are being bulldozed too, with the supine local Press there toeing the line by presenting the people who want to abide by the law as obstructive and unfair.
The situation in your building is unique in that you have government MPs openly flouting planning laws. Everybody now knows this. Sydney City knows it. The suddenly silent Labour Party knows it. The deeply disappointing “no limits” Minister Kean certainly knows it. But nobody wants to do anything because they are more interested in political expediency than legal issues.
In your shoes, rather than sniping at the one group that has stopped Airbnb in a way that no other has anywhere in Australia, you could perhaps be trying to build on that small but significant victory.
Personally I am amazed that no one has persuaded the Ombudsman’s office to do their job and order City of Sydney to do theirs.
In Queensland, the Ombudsman ordered Brisbane City Council to enforce their planning regulations. With a clear-cut case like yours, I assume you tried that avenue. Why didn’t it work?