Monthly news roundup – July 2018
It’s been another busy month in short-term rentals in Australia and around the world. Here are the highlights.
- Tragic death in Melbourne short-term rental. I was in EQ tower not long ago and it was full of tourists waiting for their hosts to arrive. Hopefully this tragedy helps push the Victorian government to pass tougher short-term rental (STR) laws, but Melbourne buildings can fight back immediately. Download our free tips for Victorian stratas.
- San Diego passes some great rules to curb short-term rentals. The rules ban investor short-term rentals, limit owner-occupier STRs to 6 months per year, and there’s a $1000 fee to register your property. Of course the STR platforms fought the rules passing and continue to fight them.
- New York goes one step further, demanding Airbnb, Homeaway and other STR platforms turn over host data like names, real addresses, emails, phone numbers, and days booked & money made annually. $1500 fine to the platforms for each listing they don’t report. New York is the epicentre of short-term rental problems. They see the problems first. We should all pay attention to why they’ve chosen such a drastic solution.
- Still think Airbnb is for home owners occasionally renting out a spare room? This study of London listings shows 45% of London properties listed on the site were held by hosts with multiple listings, with 23% listing more than 10 properties. And since these are the full-time rentals, it’s an even bigger chunk of Airbnb’s revenue. That’s why the platforms talk a lot about codes of conduct and not a lot about banning investor short-term rentals.
