Current Situation

Short Stay Accommodation (e.g houses rented on AirBnB, Stayz, etc) can have a detrimental effect on surrounding properties through noise, parking issues, etc, and have previously resulted in a small number of out-of-control parties within Wyndham. Municipalities such as Shire of Mornington Peninsula, Bass Coast Shire, and Yarra Ranges Council have adopted Local Laws regulation short stay accommodation.

A search of short stay accommodation sites identified that there are 19 entire properties available to rent in Wyndham on a Saturday night in October 2022, and 61 properties offering a room for rent in an occupied property. Council has received 61 complaints regarding properties that were believed to be used as Short Term Accommodation, mostly relating to noise, waste, and parking issues.

Proposed Local Law Provision (if determined to be necessary)

Consider adding provisions that Short Stay Accommodation Properties must be registered with Council and comply with conditions set by Council regarding noise, waste, parking, etc.

Potential impacts

Compliance obligation

The registration of Short-Term Accommodation with Council is unlikely to impose a significant burden on the owners of such properties. If property owners are unable to ensure that their guests are complying with permit conditions, their permit would be cancelled, and they would be unable to legally continue using the property as short-term accommodation, which would be a significant impact to the property owner.

Appropriate penalty

The nature of non-compliance does not immediately present a risk to the safety of others and the penalty should only be sufficient to encourage compliance or as a deterrent to non-compliance. On that basis, the proposed penalty amount suggested is in line with other amenity clauses in the Local Law, which is currently 2 penalty units ($200).

Resources required

To facilitate the creation and administration of permits, its estimated that a part-time Business Support Officer would be required at a cost of $28,000 per year. Enforcement is likely able to be accommodated within existing Council Resources, except where enforcement work outside of business hours is required. A budget of $15,000 is likely to be required for an officer to be available in the summer months to attend to any complaints outside of business hours.