Airbnb: Victorian apartment owners given green light to rent homes online

VICTORIAN apartment owners have been given the green light to rent their homes out on Airbnb in a landmark legal decision.

• Crackdown on Airbnb apartments used for wild parties

VICTORIAN apartment owners have been given the green light to rent their homes out on Airbnb in a landmark legal decision.

The Supreme Court today ruled owners corporations were powerless to meddle with lot owners’ rights to let their units short-term in a turf war over a Docklands apartment context.

Short-stay juggernaut Airbnb celebrated the decision, saying the owners’ court win was a boon for Victorian families looking to make some extra cash.

Airbnb says the owners’ court win was a boon for Victorian families looking to make some extra cash. Picture: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg

“This is great news for the thousands of everyday Australians who earn a modest but important supplemental income through hosting on Airbnb,” the popular website’s Australian manager Sam McDonagh said in a statement.

The owners corporation of the Watergate apartments originally took the fight to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to stop a couple letting 11 residential units for periods less than 30 days.

Paul Salter and Belinda Balcombe, who operate Docklands Executive Apartments, were among eight other parties defending similar proceedings before the tribunal.

The Waterview Walk twin-tower complex was dubbed “Partygate” after previously becoming popular with visitors staging bucks’ and hens’ nights.

The tribunal heard emergency services have been called over a number of incidents between 2008 and January, 2015 including: the fire brigade responding after guests holding a party let off a fire extinguisher; and drunken guests threatening residents.

But real estate agent Mr Salter said there had been only a small number of incidents involving his guests.

The tribunal member ruled the owners corporation didn’t have the power to invoke a rule banning the use of the apartments for trade without prior permission.

On appeal, Supreme Court judge Peter Riordan said the case raised “an important question of whether, in Victoria, an owners corporation has the power to ... prohibit lot owners from letting their residential lots on a short-term basis.”

The owners corporation argued before Justice Riordan it had the power to regulate the use of private lots.

But in dismissing the appeal, he concluded the relevant laws gave owners corporations no authority to interfere with lot owners’ proprietary rights in such a “sweeping” manner.

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