Talking Point: Hobart homesharers are using loopholes and breaking the rules

ANNA REYNOLDS: Hundreds aren’t sharing homes at all, and we can’t police it

SQUEEZE FOR LOCALS: Too much housing is being converted to permanent tourist accommodation, which is very different to home sharing.

I HAVE always been a fan of homesharing, and many Tasmanians tell me that renting out their spare rooms provides much needed income and a way to meet people from around the world.

I also have friends who pay for their annual holiday with the proceeds from renting out their home for a few weeks over Christmas/New Year. It’s a positive thing for Hobart and provides accommodation that was probably never available as long term rental.

But like many cities popular with tourists, too much of our housing is being converted to permanent tourist accommodation, which is completely different to home sharing. And that’s a big problem.

Tasmania’s Tenants Union estimates 995 out of 25,000 rentals in greater Hobart are for short-stay accommodation, 4 per cent of the total stock.

While this seems like a manageable number, the City of Hobart Council area, with its attractive inner suburbs, is under the greatest pressure.

University of Tasmania experts found 57 per cent of visitor accommodation listings are in this part of Hobart, even though we only have 28 per cent of rental properties in greater Hobart. They estimate that in inner city suburbs, at least 400 properties have been converted from long-term private rental to short-stay accommodation since 2016.

This is a huge number to lose and amounts to a large number of residents who can no longer live in inner Hobart.

Governments need to play a role in balancing private and public interests, and ensure development accommodates the residents of the city.

However, the State Government’s regulation provides no opportunity for councils to tweak the rules to respond to local circumstances or to fund staff who might help us police the regulations.

The main regulation the State Government requires is for some operators to get a permit, but only some, such as those renting out more than four bedrooms or a property that is not their primary residence. Council can’t refuse to provide a permit unless it is in Battery Point and is self-contained visitor accommodation (eg an empty house used solely for this purpose), or it is in an apartment building or larger than 200sq m and is considered to cause an unreasonable loss of “residential amenity”.

There are many loopholes. If someone wants to claim they are simply renting out their primary place of residence, while they are “temporarily absent”, they are exempt from needing a permit, even if they rent it for many months of the year. This is even the case in Battery Point, where council lobbied for stronger rules. If the owner claims they’re temporarily absent or on holiday they can rent out the house without a permit. There is no definition of “temporarily absent”.

NSW is about to bring in even stronger regulations that are supported by Airbnb. Short-term letting will be allowable 365 days a year as long as the host is present. If the host does not live there, short-term letting will be limited to 180 days in greater Sydney. In Byron Bay it will be 90 days. This provides some incentive to have a property as long-term rental rather than visitor accommodation.

The City of Hobart is expecting the State Government will provide the public with new data on the number of residences with a permit and the number who claim they are exempt. This won’t change much. Our council does not have the staff to do an audit of people who say they are exempt.

The State Government didn’t include consideration of how councils would fund the permit system’s monitoring and implementation.

Visitor accommodation is an important part of the economy but the housing market is now out of balance in favour of short stays. For the sake of our thousands of renters, the State Government needs to consider stronger regulation as in NSW or other cities around the world.

Councillor Anna Reynolds is Hobart Lord Mayor.