Hornsby state Liberal and Better Regulation Minister Matt Kean and Planning Minister Anthony Roberts handed down new planning laws for holiday letters this week, revealing a 180-day-a-year limit on holiday letting across Greater Sydney when a host is not present.

“The 180 days a year limit approximately equates to weekends, school holidays and public holidays so we felt this was a fair and balanced approach,” Mr Roberts said.

Mr Kean said the new reforms recognise the $31 billion injected into the Australian economy through short-term holiday letting, “while stamping out party houses through a mandatory code of conduct”.

A 2017 Deloitte report revealed Airbnb had made a $512 million contribution to the NSW economy in one year with more than 40,000 listings.

“We have consulted widely with industry and the community to make sure our nation-leading regulatory framework is the very best approach to short-term holiday letting,” Mr Kean said.

“The mandatory code of conduct for online accommodation platforms, letting agents, hosts and guests would address impacts like noise levels, disruptive guests and effects on shared neighbourhood amenities.

“Under our ‘two strikes and you’re out’ policy, hosts or guests who commit two serious breaches of the Code within two years will be banned for five, and be listed on an exclusion register.”

Under the new planning rules, homes can be let to tourists as exempt development 365 days a year, when a host is living at the property.

According to Airbnb data, there were more than 30 million trips at Airbnb listings worldwide in 2016. During that time, significant property damage to the value of $1,000 or more was reported 0.009 per cent of the time.

Airbnb global head of policy, Chris Lehane said the company welcomes “new, fair and innovative rules … which give home sharing the green light in NSW”.

“Today’s announcement is the culmination of nearly three years of consultation with our community, the industry and local officials to ensure home sharing makes NSW a better place to live and visit,” he said.

“They bring the rules for home sharing into the 21st century and send a clear signal that NSW embraces healthy tourism.

“These statewide rules strike the right balance. They protect the rights of respectful and responsible home sharers, while taking a zero tolerance stance on bad behaviour.”

Sydney Business Chamber executive director Patricia Forsythe applauded the NSW Government on the plan, but said allowing strata to ban short-term holiday letting was a mistake and lead to “uninteded consequences”.

WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU

MILSON’S Passage resident and holiday letter Susan Vincent-Billing first spoke to the Advocate in April 2017, after state government reviews were handed down for Airbnb regulations.

Since then, approval for one of the residential dwellings on her property was revoked, meaning she was forced to remove it from the popular holiday website and took a major hit at the hip pocket.

“It has been such a long wait for everyone,” Ms Vincent-Billing told the Advocate.

“People have been up in the air about investment properties, some even questioning whether they were able to pay their mortgage after the laws were announced.”

Ms Vincent-Billing said the review led to “a whole new level of scrutiny” for holiday home hosts.

“We have lost a lot of money in the past year,” she said. “This was our family’s attempt to get into the real estate market and pay off a mortgage.

“This review placed major restrictions and scrutiny on us, there were never any issues until this review commenced.”

Ms Billing said she welcomes the new laws.

“I am pleased it enables homeowners to do whatever the need to do in their homes, without upsetting council or neighbours,” she said.

“These laws bring us into line with the rest of the world.”