Re: How I failed to stay calm and write a submission on Airbnb

The situation in Victoria is even worse than in NSW (or better, depending on your POV).

Right now in NSW, Owners Corps are using by-laws that support their zoning to prevent short-term rentals in residential-only buildings, despite advice from brain donors in Fair Trading that these by-laws are not legal.  Our survey of lawyers said by a margin of two-to-one that they are legal and we are yet to hear of a case where the Tribunal or a court has said otherwise.

The situation is very different in Victoria, where the Supreme Court has ruled that any such by-laws would mean the Owners Corp was trying to act as a planning authority and therefore the restrictive by-laws are not valid.

In Victoria, Airbnb supported the “right” of tenants to let their entire apartment short-term, by funding their court case.  Ironically, the court upheld their right to do so, but the problem was that the tenants didn’t have the required permission of their landlords so the case should never have got to court in the first place.

Meanwhile, the Victorian Labor government has been falling over itself to support the “right” of apartment owners to destroy the peace and quiet of their neighbours, and any chance of creating high-rise communities.  

The way they have cozied up to Airbnb is quite sickening, really.  Fortunately the Victorian parliament’s Upper House rejected their astonishingly pro-Airbnb legislation and sent them away to think again.  Or just think for the first time, really.

So, to answer your question, if you don’t give a damn about your neighbours, provided you can make a few extra bucks off your property, Victoria is the place to be.  

Having said that, choose the wrong building where people are saying “Disruptive?  We will show you disruptive!” and you could find yourself walking into a crapfight where you will spend a lot of time and most of your additional money trying to prove that you have the right to do what no one else around you wants.