Peter Miles: Holiday home rentals need some consistent rules

One path needed for Bookabach concerns. Photo / Andrew Warner

COMMENT: As the summer holidays begin, it is worth remembering New Zealand's baches are the often-overlooked workhorse of the holiday accommodation industry. In fact, many parts of New Zealand have traditionally relied on baches to meet tourist demand during the summer peak.

Accelerating this trend is the explosive growth in urban and regional short-term rental, globally. Short-term rental, which began in New Zealand as holiday homes (secondary residences), now extends to suburban homes and apartments. Short-term rental has much to offer — unique experiences, more space for families and the ability to self cater.

Kiwis have long recognised this, and have enjoyed renting baches for many years for exactly this reason. However, with this new twist on an old favourite, new challenges for our burgeoning sector have arisen.

We recognise there are legitimate concerns posed by the extension of short-term rental into residential neighbourhoods. We appreciate that short-term rental is putting pressure on permanent housing stock affordability and availability in popular tourist destinations.

We understand that local governments want to understand the extent of the sharing economy and how, as a commercial activity, it can pay for its fair share of tourism infrastructure. Finally, we recognise that complaints about noise and nuisance must be resolved swiftly and decisively.

To answer these questions, local and central government must work with the industry to develop a consistent set of rules that can be applied across the country. It is impossible for our industry to engage with 78 local authorities, and nobody wants a patchwork quilt of piecemeal regulation.

It is in the collective interest of the tourism industry, government, homeowners and the wider community to have a lasting and national regulatory framework for short-term rental that addresses urban planning, resource consents and amenity.

Further, tourism infrastructure funding should be addressed at a national level and, if required, councils given more options on the ways tourism can be levied at a local level.

For some time now, councils across the country have been wrangling with the best way to provide some form of regulation that meets community expectations. So far, these rudimentary solutions have been a reflection of the limited policy levers and imperfect information available to local governments.

Without a national solution to the issue of tourism infrastructure funding, we fear councils will continue to impose ill-fitting and excessive taxation regimes on short-term rental properties.

Earlier this year, we predicted that Auckland Council's move to apply an ill-fitting model of commercial rating (including the accommodation providers targeted rate) on whole home short-term rental accommodation would see bach owners - especially those who only rent out a few weeks per year - withdraw from the market.

This is to the detriment of Auckland's tourism offering and the families who enjoy the unique experiences these properties offer.

We stand ready to work with central and local government to prevent the emerging patchwork of red tape that will make it harder for the sharing economy to thrive. There is a requirement for a national framework around short-term rental that provides certainty for the sector and prescribes clear rules for holiday home owners and travellers.

We believe there is a leadership role for the central government where it can build a consistent planning framework that regional and city councils must follow. This framework should include:

• A simple national registration process for all short-term rental accommodation that will require all properties, and the platforms on which they list, to meet minimum standards;

• A mandatory, tough and detailed code of conduct for owners and managers of short-term rental properties – including a three strikes rule for those who do not meet the standards;

• A new industry-funded and administered body to process and adjudicate questions about amenity, noise and overcrowding at short-term rental accommodation properties.

Portugal is one country where this approach is working well with more than 59,000 registered short-term rentals. Registration is simple and holiday-home owners are issued on the spot a registration number that they can list on their profile online immediately. It captures basic information like the name and contact details of the owner and the address of the property, and sets standards on capacity, hygiene and health and safety.

By working in concert with each other, we believe we can preserve the traditional bach family holiday, while answering the questions that Kiwis are asking of our industry and the Government.

• Peter Miles is the general manager of Bookabach/HomeAway NZ.