A ruling around the use of Airbnbs has been called a “potential game changer” by the mayor of a district plagued by housing issues. A Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment tribunal has made a decision around the use of a unit in Christchurch, which may set a precedent around the using of houses for short-term rentals. The parties in the hearing were the Christchurch City Council and the owner of a unit in central Christchurch. The council said the owners had changed the use of the unit from its consented use as a household unit to short-term accommodation. The tribunal ruled the property was not used as the exclusive home or residence of a household. The unit’s essential purpose was to provide temporary accommodation to changing occupants. It should be categorised to sleeping accommodation rather than sleeping residential. Queenstown Lakes District Mayor John Glover said the decision would be felt around the country and it was a potential game-changer. But he had no doubt it would be appealed. The appeal period runs out on August 28. “Because of the significance of the decision and how it’s applied, it will impact everyone across the country, councils across the country,” he said. “But it goes to what we hear repeatedly from the commercial accommodation sector who are investing in hotels and motels, that there isn’t a level playing field.” The commercial accommodation sector was not investing because it was being undercut, he said. “We know socially that there’s a lot of issues about residential housing being used for whole-house Airbnb. Maybe this will address that.” Queenstown was struggling with infrastructure and steep rents and house prices. It was believed to have more than 2500 Airbnbs and other short-term accommodation. “I think everyone will be watching. It’s potentially a game changer. And I’m sure it’ll be heavily contested. “In a district where people are struggling to find housing that they can afford to live in, housing is being built. Residential property is taking up land that’s zoned for residential use. But they’re basically being used for commercial use. And each one of those is a property that’s not available for somebody to rent. “We’ve talked about the sort of zombie houses that suck the life out of a residential subdivision because there’s no real people living there. “We’d like different neighbours but probably not every night of the week. And that’s reality. James Allan PhotographyQueenstown Lakes District Mayor John Glover. Photo: James Allan Photography “If we’re carving up land for housing, we really want that to be used for housing. But again, you’ll see houses get sold. … The tenants are given notice. A truckload of new furniture comes in and the whole house is on Airbnb. That, I think, for a lot of people in our community doesn’t sit right.” The challenge was to how distinguish between people renting out a room and still living in a house and a whole house set up for short-term accommodation, he said. “The courts will be the arbiters of that and there will be a lot of people watching and holding their breath.” The Rees Hotel executive director Mark Rose said it was about time something was done with Airbnbs. He was an easy target as he ran a hotel but it was at the high end of the market and not impacted as much by short-term rental accommodation. “But what it does affect is the fabric of our community because people don’t have places to live. And so we’ve got people living six in a bedroom because residential houses are being used commercially,” Mr Rose said. “It just beggars belief. We go on about how there’s been a housing crisis. We’ve got something like two and a-half thousand Airbnbs in the Queenstown/Wānaka district. There’s no housing crisis. There’s an Airbnb crisis. “Everyone’s had people come to stay over for decades … and you’re hosting them, and I understand that completely. But once you start getting commercial landlords in there and running them, it’s crazy.” Some residential developments were building units the size of a medium-sized hotel room, 35sq m, which could only ever be for short-term accommodation, he said. “People are paying $300 for a room, for a bedroom, in a house, in a shared flat. It’s just outrageous.” The biggest issue with a proposed bed tax was how were short-term rental operators going to pay. “Why would hotel guests have to be the ones to pay when we can’t regulate Airbnb?” The Dunedin City Council was aware of the ruling. The council required anyone making their home available to paying guests for more than 28 nights per calendar year to seek resource consent, a council spokesman said. The council would consider whether the property complied with all relevant legislative requirements. It would also take enforcement action if a complaint was received and non-compliance was found. No complaints have been made in Dunedin.
