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🇦🇺 Australia /Economy & Trade

Hobart council revives plan to ban whole-home short-stays

From ABC Australia · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

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  • Hobart City Council has revived a plan to prevent entire homes from being used as short-stay accommodations.
  • The proposal, which would affect about 20,000 homes in residential zones, would only apply to new permit applications.
  • This move follows previous attempts by the council to regulate short-term rentals, including doubling rates and significantly increasing application fees.

Hobart City Council is once again attempting to restrict the conversion of entire homes into short-stay accommodations, a plan previously rejected by the Tasmanian Planning Commission. The resurrected proposal aims to block approximately 20,000 homes in general, inner, and low-density residential zones from becoming short-term rentals like Airbnb or Stayz.

Under the proposed changes, only new permit applications would be affected, meaning existing short-stay properties would not be impacted. Exemptions are planned for homeowners renting out spare rooms or granny flats, and for those listing their homes while on holiday. The proposal has cleared the council's planning committee and will now undergo a 28-day public exhibition period before a final decision is made.

unique and local conditions

— council officersIn a report provided to elected members on Wednesday, council officers said the proposed ban was a response to the "unique and local conditions" in the city.

This initiative represents the latest effort in a sustained campaign by Hobart's local government to control the proliferation of short-term rentals. Previous measures included doubling rates for short-stay properties and a more than 1,000% increase in application fees. A report by housing researcher Peter Phibbs highlighted that short-stays accounted for 8.8% of homes in the Hobart local government area, a significantly higher concentration compared to Sydney and Melbourne.

unusually high concentration

— Peter PhibbsHe estimated short-stay listings accounted for 8.8 per cent of dwellings in the City of Hobart area in September last year, compared to just 2.2 per cent in the City of Sydney and 4.8 per cent in the City of Melbourne.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by ABC Australia in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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