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The NSW government is moving to crack down on Airbnb style short-term rentals and vacant holiday homes in an effort to put some of the state’s 50-60,0
[See the full post at: NSW plans crackdown on ‘Airbnb’ rentals]The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
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I am hopeful that there will be a root and branch overhaul of the regulations. But at the end of the day the biggest problem is the (few) property managers who ride roughshod over by-laws, regulations, code of conduct and grab whatever money they can on the way through – with no regard to the community, nor to the owners of the properties they manage…
I believe that the only way that gets fixed is when someone is put on the exclusion list and the tiger is perceived as having teeth.
I am hopeful that there will be a root and branch overhaul of the regulations. But at the end of the day the biggest problem is the (few) property managers who ride roughshod over by-laws, regulations, code of conduct and grab whatever money they can on the way through – with no regard to the community, nor to the owners of the properties they manage…
I believe that the only way that gets fixed is when someone is put on the exclusion list and the tiger is perceived as having teeth.
You’re correct and property managers and various management companies are exploiting the situation to earn additional income under the radar.
As for regulations and laws, they are unlikely to halt Airbnb and short-term rentals, as these entities often disregard legal constraints, drawn by the allure of profit.
The solution lies in partnering with a competent management company that can identify and deter such practices, equipping them with effective security electronic systems like virtual mobile access cards. That way no more costly keyfobs, which can easily be shared via mailboxes or external padlocks, and no more copies, buyable at your local Mister Minit..
The issue is that many management companies still place undue trust in building security integrators, who often are not be fully aware of the security shortcomings of their installations.
For instance, my building in Melbourne, UWS, was equipped with over 10,000 HID SEOS cards, which were promised to be unclonable. Yet, they were cloned within just two months.
It took three years for HID to finally acknowledge the security flaw and inform all security integrators about it. It’s quite laughable.
In conclusion, to effectively eliminate short-term rentals, we need to implement the right security systems that are independent of security integrators and eliminate the use of fobs.
No more installing HID products ever again…
Coupled with a competent management company, this should suffice.
There are many problems with Airbnb, that unsurprisingly several are missed by the regulators and politicians in general.
Two come to mind as chronically missed opportunities:
1. Say you’re a landlord. You lease your investment unit for one year to Mr and Mrs Jones. A few months into the lease they tell you they are scooting overseas for a month and their neighbour will take their mail in their absence. You have no issue with that. Without your knowledge they rent the place out for that month via Airbnb. Your llong standing andlord insurance policy does not cover anything while STHL is taking place. The OC is not happy with three different parties living in the property over the month. Some of which make unbearable noise at night and create parking problems. When you find out about this business venture by your tenants, during their month absence, you contact Airbnb and complain saying the tenants have no right to contract with Airbnb. Airbnb tells you to go fly a kite. Specifically: “thank you for your feedback. Our policy is to stand by our hosts and the Jones’ are our hosts”. I repeat: “they cannot be hosts. The place is not theirs. It’s like them selling a random car in a shopping centre car park. They do not have papers to show it is their automobile”! Airbnb thanked me for my feedback but didn’t budge an inch.
I had to go to NCAT (after waiting a few months to be heard) in order to stop this situation, which was repeated a few times and each time exposed me as uninsured. Alternatively I was happy for NCAT to have my tenants ordered to pay the additional premium for landlord insurance that covers STHL.
At NCAT I won because the Member saw the facts as I did. Who knows how another Member would see the facts?
What is needed as part of any reform to the legislation are massive penalties for Airbnb if caught contracting with anyone other than the owner of the premises or anyone who has the owner’s written consent. Maybe a three strikes and you’re out of the Australian marketplace would be a good start. It’s not like there are no other similar platforms; and
2. It was reported a few years ago that negative reviews of accommodation is not a selling point for the platform, so Airbnb did its best to exclude such reviews from the website. For tourists, this makes good hosts indivisible from lousy ones. I am unaware if this unsavoury behaviour continues to operate.
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