Lessons to Wellington of the advice that tried to regulate the Airbnb

Since the Wellington City Council includes the change rates for the owners of Airbnb, what can you learn from the advice that were there, did that?

The first thing you find when you go through the Airbnb, the ubiquitous accommodation reserve site, is the abundance of options. Dozens of stuffed pillows arranged in tidy beds. Many gray rugs and Greig walls. Turchy blue pools, a picture of a cabin with a roming bow arising on the roof. Fifteen pages of people’s houses to stay.

This is only at Christchurch – it is probably not the most popular vacation destination in New Zealand. Search the Airbnb or similar platforms, such as Bookabach, for “Queenstown” and dozens of options appear, more and more appearing while you expand the map. The Taupō area, likewise, has 690 Airbnb options aired for a weekend in April, while much larger cities of Wellington and Auckland are 770 and more than 1,000, respectively.

There has been concerns for a long time that areas with accommodation options for high -term visitors, activated by platforms such as Airbnb exacerbates the shortage of housing. Not according to Airbnb, however, the platform ordered economist Brad Olsen last year to do a research on the impact that short -term rental accommodations had on Auckland housing prices, Wellington, Queenstown and Christchurs. The analysis suggested that The supply of houses, mortgage rates and the population had a much greater impact on housing costs than short -term rental accommodations. To really hammer the house, Airbnb has marked this article on its website with the label “Airbnb is not responsible for the housing crisis”.

Despite that, QueenstownLike this, ChristchursLike this, Rotor and Thames-Coromandel The councils added or considered extra regulations for local owners who rent their homes through accommodation platforms for short -term visitors. The most recent is the Council of Wellington, arguing Charging commercial fees for owners of Airbnb.

Wellington could look for other advice that have already implemented the regulation. “We heard a lot about the impact of [short-term rentals] In a housing in Queenstown, before Covid, ”said Julie Scott. Scott is the CEO of Queenstown-Lakes Community Housing Trust, the main supplier of popular housing in the district where Kainga now has a minimal presence.

The District Council of Queenstown Lakes has Short -term rental regulationsIncluding this resource consent is necessary in some cases. Owners of Airbnb and Bach also need to pay commercial fees (which are usually significantly higher than residential) should be paid under different conditions-25-35% more if they are living on the property or renting it less than 181 days a year and 50-80% more if renting the property over 181 days a year. However, as there are many other factors, such as increased tourists and short -term workers after Covid, Scott says it is difficult to tell if these regulations have led to more homes to be used for long -term rental in Queenstown, especially since changes in the tourist market after covid and interest rates that affect houses prices are also a factor.

Voluntary Conformity in Christchurch

Christchurch City Council has also regulated short -term accommodations, requiring resource consent to people who place their homes to rent in residential areas. However, the impact has been minimal; while at least 700 properties were available in the city at Airbnb on a weekend in April, only 48 people received resource consent, And only 148 notified the board that they are operating accommodation in their homes. However, as the listings shows, there are hundreds of people who operate Airbnbs in Christchurs without consent or notify the board.

Registration for consent costs $ 1,000 and requires proof that neighboring properties will not be much affected, including information on parking, how many nights per year the house will be occupied and which instructions those guests receive when they reach the property. “The removal of the rate would probably result in more operators requesting consent, but the cost would fall into taxpayers,” said Council of Planning and Consent, Mark Stevenson.

However, there is a minimum application of the rules, because the board has no one assigned to verify short -term permanence providers. The council compliance team is creating a job to do this. “Until this role is established and filled, the team will continue to provide a reactive compliance response that uses existing staff,” said Tracey Weston, the board’s head of regulatory compliance.

The regulation of accommodations for short -term visitors reaches the heart of stresses between residents at access points and vacation tourists, who are a source of income, but also press resources such as housing, parking and water without paying fees or income tax. In the Mackenzie district, popular among the tourists of glacial blue lakes, colorful lupins (invasive) and access to Araki National Park, dwelling were widely debated in the long -term plan, with the mayor calling a “proliferationAirbnbs. Thames-Coramandel and RotorBoth with residents struggling to find housing, boundaries have been defined in how many people can stay in an Airbnb. Tourists continue to reach these places – but the housing remains out of reach as well.

Airbnb has been widely resistant to these types of regulation. Instead, that he said that “is committed to empowering everyday Kiwis to combat life costs through lodging and travel.” (Airbnb did not explain how the trip neutrally costs the cost of living.)

“In A Survey of hosts on airbnb Last Year, 53% Said They Used Money from hosting to cover food and other costs that have becomed more Expensive, While 41% Said the Money From Hosting to Help Them Stay In Their Homes,” Michael Crosby, The Airbnb Head of Public Public Policy for New Zealand, Told the Spinoff, Adding that the Platform Supports Local Economies Through Providing Cleaning Work and Customers for Businesses.

The Airbnb suggested policies across the country, instead of specific council to short -term rentalwith a collection of visitors to finance a better tourist infrastructure. There is some national regulation; Since April 1, 2024, Airbnb providers I had to pay GST About their gains, although the short accommodations of stay are excluded from the Law of Residential Lecas.

“The requirement to pay the GST definitely reduced profit and made some people think twice about renting their properties,” says Scott. Increased administrative load has also made long -term stable leases more attractive for some owners.

Regardless of whether the regulation is applied, regulations change people’s behavior around buying properties to rent. Alex*, a Canterbury resident who lives in a rural area, has been thinking of buying a property in the center of Christchurch to rent through Airbnb or a similar platform. “I want the ability to go to the city to remain when it is adequate, obviously I would have to reserve in advance, which is why a short -term rent would suit my situation,” he told Spinoff. It is reluctant to pay for resource consent and sees the possibility of the board increasing the application as a “great risk”, which would make a second property inadequate. “I made the decision to try to buy a property that is not in a residential zoning, which would mean that a consent of resource for short -term rent would not be necessary,” he said.

What Scott thinks other advice can learn from Queenstown’s efforts to regulate short -term rentals is that “there is no silver bullet.” In your work, accessible housing cannot only happen through the tourist platform. Instead, it happens through policies such as inclusive housing, which ensures that part of new housing developments is reserved for popular housing and simply build more houses. “People think a 300 m² section is dense, but we need to go up, not leave,” she said. For people to live in a place and make it prosper, there must be somewhere to live, whether there are many tourists or not. “I think we’ll always see a demand for accessible [long term] rent. ”