ON THE ISSUE OF TAXATION…AIRBNB & ITS COMMERCIAL OPERATORS
The use of residential housing as short-term tourist/visitor rentals is a prohibited use. In NSW, this is a well-documented legal position. With Agents aplenty offering hundreds of homes each, Airbnb doesn’t even bother these days with its ‘home sharing’ mantra. Instead, Airbnb gladly hops on the publicity bandwagon with corporate agents such as MadeComfy (297 listings), Luxico (129 listings), L’Abode (196 listings)… And regrettably, the list goes on and on. Airbnb and Sta
THE DOLLARS ROLL IN FOR THE AIRBNB/SHORT-TERM RENTAL CREW
If you have purchased a home in NSW and your neighbours are the “selfish pond scum” that occupy the corridors of Parliament – so-named by a respected writer on all things Strata - know that no other State MP, Government Department or Tribunal will back you if you are threatened and harassed by the Hon Members from Macquarie Street. Voting in favour of a relaxation of legislation covering Airbnb-type rentals as they exited and no longer needing to attend Parliament, the reti
THE AIRBNB CONTAGION CONTINUES UNCHECKED
Sabrina Behunin has cracked ‘the 300-mark’. As of today, Sabrina has 306 homes listed on Airbnb with numbers climbing daily. Rampant corporatisation of Residential Housing? And regrettably Sabrina is not alone. Up on the NSW North Coast, John Gudgeon from the Holiday Letting Organisation has this week emailed those operating short-term rentals in breach of Residential Zoning: “We have confirmation that the relentless anti-STRA position is still being pursued by the Byron S
AIRBNB: WHO ARE THEY LETTING PENETRATE OUR HOMES
Reports this week that the ACAT (the ACT’s equivalent of our NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal NCAT) has acted against Wotif, for “misleading and deceptive conduct”. A client booked an apartment with beach views and was housed in a “dilapidated basement with views of an outdoor kitchenette – he felt ripped off”. The ACCC’s Rod Sims is also taking on Google and Facebook over their sizeable market power. The ACCC’s probe was scured by the Nick Xenophon Team. It’s lamenta
NSW: YESsirEE, AIRBNB (Ireland) WANTS YOU TO VOTE LNP
Some wrote to us yesterday stating: “If Airbnb starts telling us who to vote for in the upcoming State elections…” Well, there were numerous comments and let’s politely leave it at…‘too many ‘comments’ to print here’. And yes, see below how (Airbnb’s tax haven in) Ireland – hey, at least it’s not Russia– is trying to influence our electoral system, and legislation, and your home lives and communities. This featured email has been sent to 1,000s of NSW voters. Let’s see if a
IS THE US$31-BILLION AIRBNB DICTATING LEGISLATION?
Yesterday, 100 days out for the NSW State Election, the Daily Telegraph forewarned that the off-shore booking platform, Airbnb, will today be sending “an email to thousands of its members discouraging them from voting for Labor in the upcoming state election”, claiming that Labor’s plans for a mandatory regulation scheme on short-term rentals is “backing the ‘big end of town’”. In May 2016, in the corridors of the NSW Parliament House, a NSW Local Government Administrator tol
WILL SHE CRACK IT BY NEW YEAR?
Sabrina Bethunin often adds up to five Airbnb listings to her haul of properties every week; her commercial operations in residential dwellings attract no enforcement action from Sydney Local Council administrators. Note well: far from every client leaves a review and Sabrina currently has 4,144 reviews across 282 Airbnb properties. Will Sabrina crack 300 homes lost to Airbnb rentals by New Year? Our humble Neighbours Not Strangers Facebook page now has 995 ‘Followers’ – t
DEAR PREMIER, A WORD PLEASE...AIRBNB IS COLLABORATING WITH LEGISLATORS
At lunchtime today NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian was doing a Media call in the Sydney suburb of Oatley. State Member for Oatley and Chairman of the Parliamentary Inquiry into Legislation on Short-Term Rentals, the Hon Mark Coure MP, accompanied the Premier. A local Media Representative was present. The Premier was told that Residents are being forced from their homes due to illegal rentals. Ms Berejiklian was asked to explain why neither she nor her Ministers reply to ques
REMEMBER THE DAYS BEFORE AIRBNB?
Brent Thomas from Airbnb has told Perth radio listeners that if the Hotel Industry has its way and the illegal use of housing is stamped out, pretty much the State’s Tourism Industry will collapse and the financial repercussions will be “devastating” - for Airbnb’s illegal income source and its illegal operators: “Millions and millions of dollars and thousands and thousand of jobs lost…” The Hotel Industry wants to create a “protection racket”. Our mate Brent Thomas: Airb
THE HEATED BATTLE OVER "WARM, COZY AND INVITING HOMES"
On Thursday, 22 November, at a Byron Shire Council meeting, Staff will give an update on the release of the Short Term Rental Accommodation Planning Framework by the NSW Department of Planning and the Environment. (See agenda, Item 13.21for full details.) Council will ask State Government to reduce the number of days that short term rentals can operate from 365 days to 90 days per year and, interestingly, “exclude short term rental accommodation from (to be nominated) areas
