Mornington Peninsula Shire to consider call for state review of short stay providers
Thousands of extra houses are needed to meet escalating demand on the Mornington Peninsula and the local council has its eye on short stay providers.
South East
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Holiday houses are under the microscope on the Mornington Peninsula as the local council seeks a solution to a growing rental crisis.
Mornington Peninsula Shire will on Tuesday consider asking the State Government to investigate the merits of registration and compliance for short stay accommodation and commit to improved data collection for the sector.
An agenda item, to be tabled at the 10am meeting, said the region’s housing market was at risk of being dominated by short term rentals.
“One aspect of the housing crisis in holiday destinations like the Mornington Peninsula is that
the rental market is smaller – proportionately 10 per cent less rentals than Greater Melbourne (according to the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistic Census),” the report said.
“A balanced approach to short and long-term rentals is required to existing frameworks where Holiday Rental Short Term Accommodation and Party Houses are the preferred option of many holiday house owners and investment property owners, to the detriment of longer term rental options.”
Mornington Peninsula short stay providers already have to register their property annually with the council at a cost of $300 and follow a code of conduct.
There are 2900 currently registered. Failure to register a property for short stay accommodation risks a $1000 fine.
The council declared a housing crisis in 2021 and now has almost 3000 people in need of a home in the region.
However, not all councillors supported the idea that short stay accommodation was part of the problem.
Cr Susan Bissinger said the premise that short term rentals harmed the term rental market was incorrect as most had never been offered for long term rent.
A recent survey of Mornington Peninsula short stay accommodation providers revealed that if the sector became “over-regulated” hosts would remove their properties from the market, robbing the region of critical tourist accommodation.
The Airbnb Mornington Peninsula Hosts survey found that just 13 per cent of respondents had previously offered their holiday house as a long term rental. Of that figure most would not do it again.
Cr Bissinger said changes to the Residential Tenancies Act had made it unattractive for landlords to offer properties to medium and long term tenants.
“A number of existing long term rentals have been taken off the market so landlords can move in as their primary place of residence – a lot of these properties are retirement investments,” she said.
A government spokesperson said the Owners Corporations Ammendment (Short-stay Accommodation Act), which was introduced in 2016, would be reviewed.
“We brought in tough new laws regulating the short-stay sector to better protect Victorians and crack down on unruly behaviour in short-stay accommodation,” they said.
“We will continue to closely monitor the legislation’s impact as the Victorian tourism industry picks up pace again following the impacts of COVID-19 over the past few years.”