#27571
Lady Penelope
Strataguru

    Millie – The sad thing is that the DA appears to be so prescriptive and restrictive in its wording and its intent (“all residential lots must be occupied by an owner/occupier or someone holding a residential tenancy agreement”) that it appears that it would preclude and exclude the owner allowing relatives of the owner from staying in the apartment, or house swaps etc. Unintended consequences perhaps? 

    I am not sure whether you have stayed in Airbnbs in cities such as Barcelona that ban Airbnbs  – we have. We stayed in a popular Barcelona Airbnb one month ago for one week. We were not even aware at the time that Airbnbs were banned. All that was required when we arrived was that we signed a Residential Tenancy form with the dates of the holiday being the last week of the Tenancy. We vacated after our week’s holiday at the end of the Tenancy. 

    The DA that you mentioned can possibly also be circumvented in the same way. 

    Although Barcelona City Council has employed over 40 inspectors to crack down on short term holiday lets these measures have so far been largely ineffectual. 

    https://www.spanishpropertyinsight.com/2016/07/07/barcelona-threatens-airbnb-others-fines-e600000/

    If the concept of inspectors is not successful then another alternative is for the Councils to licence the holiday lets and make their locations transparent. A licence fee could be paid by the owner, addresses given, and owner’s contact details recorded.

    The fee could be used by the Council’s to employ ‘bouncers’ who would work at night. They would have the authority to issue on the spot evictions for breaches of Council noise and nuisance codes in these properties. Records could be kept of the properties that become ‘problem’ properties and the owner of these properties could have their licences revoked.

    In a Hotel it is the Manager who can evict an unruly guest. The Council’s ‘bouncer’ could be given the same authority as a Hotel Manager. This would avoid the need for police to become involved in noise and nuisance issues.

    If you cannot exclude it then at least you can control it. Perhaps this idea is worth some thought?