Landlords cashing in on Airbnb rental bonanza accused of creating the nightmare before Christmas
OWNERS of prime holiday hotspot homes are demanding tenants sign 11-month leases so they can cash in on Christmas vacation short term rentals.
NSW
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OWNERS of prime holiday hotspot homes are demanding tenants sign 11-month leases so they can cash in on Christmas vacation short term rentals.
Traditional year-long tenancies agreements are being replaced by terms for 11-months, week-by-week or 6-month rentals to take advantage of the booming Airbnb market.
During the Christmas to New Year holidays, properties in popular holiday areas can fetch more than four times their normal rent.
“With the rise in Airbnb and other short term rentals, there has been an increase in owners looking for alternatives to a standard 12 month lease,” eastern suburbs real estate agent and 1st City principal Rod Fox said.
“I’m seeing more of the 11 month or 6 month leases, where landlords are looking to cash in on the high prices they can potentially achieve over the Christmas and New Year period.
“This only really applies to properties that have desirable features like views or courtyards, large balconies or are located close to holiday hot spots.”
One tenant in a property with Harbour Bridge views said that last month she was asked to vacate her property for two weeks over New Year’s Eve.
The woman, who asked not to be named, claimed she was told by the owner’s real estate agent that if she didn’t leave she may not get another lease for the property.
The rise in leases which allow owners a holiday windfall is just part of an increasing problem where renters cannot compete with the allure to landlords of putting their properties up for short-term holiday rentals.
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In early December last year Wollongong resident Claire Gerson’s landlord personally served her with a no grounds termination notice, giving her 90 days to leave.
“When I asked him why I had to go he just muttered something about a ‘family crisis’,” the 64-year-old said.
“Within one month my $400 per week property was on Airbnb for $259 per night.
“When I started looking I found rents had gone up considerably.”
Ms Gerson said she would have been forced to stay on friend’s couches if she wasn’t lucky enough to secure a friend’s rental property, located 15km away.
“I had been living in the area for 16 years, so when they booted me out they effectively divorced me from my community,” she said.
“If what happened to me happens to a family with kids, I can only imagine how difficult it is for the children to re-establish themselves.
“It is the hollowing out of the community. People do not know who their neighbours are.”
In 2015-16 there were 800,000 Australian property bookings made through Airbnb, a phenomenal rise since its launch in 2012.
Airbnb listings in Byron Shire Council went from 1483 last year to 2655 this year.
Under current laws landlords don’t have to give tenants a reason to leave their property, as long as they give 90 days’ notice.
The NSW opposition has committed to making a list of reasonable grounds on which a tenant may evict a tenant.
Tenants’ Union of NSW senior policy officer Ned Cutcher said the rise of Airbnb has exacerbated the problem of no grounds evictions.
“Owners want to either move in or cash in with a short tern letting and then revert back to a residential tenancy later on, probably at a higher rent than they had the previous year,” he said.
“It is an issue that has always plagues us but has become more of a problem with the rise of the short term letting industry.
“It is pushing the boundaries of what the intentions of the law are.”
A 2017 national survey from consumer group Choice found eight per cent of all renters have been evicted ‘without grounds’ at least once, with the practice more common in the eastern states.