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The NSW Parliament passed the government’s reforms for the short-term holiday letting plan this week, promising a win-win code.
Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation Matt Kean said the reforms would bolster the sharing economy while clamping down on unruly guests.
“Our plan is a win-win. It acknowledges the huge financial contribution online booking platforms make to the NSW economy, but also takes a zero-tolerance approach to raucous guests,” Mr Kean said.
One element of the reforms was a mandatory code of conduct which Mr Kean said industry stakeholders and NSW Fair Trading were developing to manage guests.
The mandatory code will come into force next year and will apply to platforms such as Airbnb, as well as letting agents, hosts and guests across the state.
“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 years and be listed on an exclusion register,” Mr Kean said.
Amendments are also being made to the Strata Schemes Management Act which will allow owner’s corporations to pass by-laws to ban short-term letting in their block.
“I’ve asked NSW Fair Trading to develop ‘what you can and can’t do’ guidelines to help owners’ corporations set rules that suit their strata schemes,” Mr Kean said.
The legislation has been met with praise from Airbnb Australia country manager Sam McDonagh, who said the bill was a recognition of the way people travelled.
“The NSW government’s fair and balanced laws will protect people’s rights and support healthy tourism,” the country manager said.
Mr McDonagh said Airbnb would work with the government in their implementation.
“We are committed to working collaboratively to implement these new laws,” Mr McDonagh said.
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