On 5 June 2018, the New South Wales Government announced a new policy for hosts for short-term Airbnb style holiday letting. The new policy will affect both owner-occupiers and investors.
The key is a new cap of 180 days in any one year on short-term lettings for an investment property, meaning a property that is not owner-occupied. The cap does not apply to owner-occupiers who rent a spare room or rooms.
Owner-occupiers - who rent 'rooms' in houses and home units anywhere in NSW - There is no cap on the number of days in a year that rooms can be let for short-term lettings. This applies to owners who let part of the house for short-term lettings, and live in another part. If breakfast is served, a B & B Licence might be needed from the Local Council.
Investors - who rent 'whole' houses and home units outside of Sydney - There is no cap on the number of days in a year that the whole house or home unit can be let for short-term lettings.
Investors - who rent 'whole' houses and home units in Greater Sydney - there is a cap of 180 days in any one year for short-term lettings. The boundary line for the Greater Sydney Region is yet to be drawn.
Investors - who rent home units in Sydney - If the Owners Corporation passes a 75% majority resolution (a special resolution) then it can ban short-term lettings by investors of 'entire' home units in the building. This cannot affect owner-occupiers who let rooms. It is not clear whether existing bans will be allowed to continue, or whether a new resolution will be needed.
For all short-term lettings, there will be a new mandatory Code of Conduct that hosts and guest must follow, accompanied by a two-strike policy, whereby hosts or guests who commit two serious breaches of the code within two years will be banned for five years and listed on an exclusion register.
For more details on the new rules, click