OCN MEDIA RELEASE: 14 February 2019
“The “breakthrough” for Byron is a welcome concession from Minister Roberts. The 90-day cap proves that the Coalition’s blanket policy of permitting short-term letting in all residential homes in all locations is fundamentally flawed,” Stephen Goddard, Spokesman for the Owners Corporation Network of Australia said today.
“For Byron, it’s a bit like having your death sentence commuted to 40 years”, he said. “The Minister has offered a glimmer hope just before an Election but Byron still has a long fight ahead.”
“Byron is not alone in its plight. Local Councils and Owners Corporations across NSW will be asking why their community matters less,” he said.
“It should take more than the threat of lost seats to drive some rational public policy. The Minister is hiding the submissions on changes to the planning system, most of them from Local Councils, and he will not release the draft State Environmental Planning Policy”, Mr Goddard said.
“The Coalition’s policy is a Gold Pass for the global platforms – there is no limit to the number of homes that can be lost to the “Airbnb market”. The Government is creating an incentive to invest in residential homes for the tourist dollar at the expense of whole communities.”
“It encourages the conversion of residential apartment buildings to “quasi-hotels” with unlimited short term letting dispersed among strata residents. It enables new residential apartments to go straight to the “Airbnb market”, he said.
“Owners Corporations must have a real choice about whether they permit short term letting in their scheme. There must be a register of all premises used for short term letting. Landlords must not be able to convert homes into tourist accommodation”, Mr Goddard said.
Media comment:
Stephen Goddard, OCN Spokesperson: 0417 046 452