Holiday home owners may need a resource consent to rent out their properties for short-term stays in the Queenstown Lakes District in future.
However, homestay operators using platforms like Airbnb would be exempt.
Independent commissioners appointed to hear submissions on visitor accommodation for the proposed district plan have released their recommendations following a hearing last year.
Chairman Denis Nugent and commissioners Sarah Dawson, Calum MacLeod and Robert Nixon recommended owners of unoccupied homes wanting to let their properties out for residential visitor accommodation in the low and medium density residential zones in the district obtain a controlled resource consent in future.
They have rejected a Queenstown Lakes District Council proposal for a 28-day three-let limit per annum, instead recommending controlled consent — which cannot be declined — for up to 90 days a year.
Those wishing to let their homes for up to 180 days a year would be subject to a restricted discretionary activity status and anything more than that would be "non-complying".
The changes, if ratified by council, would not affect those already registered because they would be able to operate under existing use rights.
The commissioners, in their recommendation, considered the additional costs of obtaining a controlled activity consent were outweighed by the benefits for record-keeping, monitoring, enforcement and the ability to impose specific conditions for the particular residential visitor accommodation use, site and neighbourhood.
Conditions could include the number of guests at any one time, guest management in relation to noise, use of outdoor areas, parking and access, compliance with the building code, complaints, record-keeping and monitoring and varied between zones.
Over time the council would be able to collect data on residential visitor accommodation in the specific zones to "input into consideration of the wider question of long-term rental availability and affordability".
The council could also levy an "annual monitoring fee" to cover the cost of regular checks, they said.
Council senior policy planner Amy Bowbyes said councillors were likely to consider the recommendations on visitor accommodation, earthworks, transport, signs, open space and recreation and the Wakatipu Basin Zone at their full meeting in March.
