Home owners in one of Western Australia's prime tourist destinations wanting to rent their properties to travellers will soon have to apply for permission from their local council.
The Shire of Broome has formalised its stance on short-term rentals, which have boomed in popularity through platforms like Airbnb and Stayz.
The shire will soon require home owners to apply for their property to be listed as a holiday house if it is in a suburban area and the owner is not residing there.
The draft policy also states that before the two-year licence for a property is granted, there would be a 21-day public comment period.
It is expected that rates charges would also change for the property.
Councillors unanimously backed the policy at their meeting on Thursday, with the proposal now subject to a 90-day public comment period.
"It'll be a case-by-case basis to approve these holiday homes, because at the moment there's no formal land use for that," Shire President Harold Tracey said.
Neighbours have complained of some un-hosted holiday homes turning into "party houses" and of parking logjams on suburban streets.
"That's another issue we have at the Shire, is complaints from neighbours about noise," Mr Tracey said.
Operators want level playing field
Michael Leake, a resort manager and member of the Broome Tourism Leadership Group, has long lobbied for governance of holiday rentals.
"There's too many stories of people in Broome surrounded by two or three Airbnb houses and they've got no control of it," Mr Leake said.
He recalled an older couple who had retired to Broome telling him they were surrounded by short-term holiday lets.
Mr Leake gave cautious support for the shire's draft policy but said it did not go far enough.
"There's well over 100 properties that are totally non-compliant. There's no structure in place for when things go wrong," he said.
The proposed policy calls for a manager to be contactable between 9am and 5pm and live within a 15-minute drive.
"That's very, very poor. We have to have a caretaker on site and have a contact number 24 hours a day," Mr Leake said.
Not unique to Broome
There are an estimated 20,000 short-term holiday rentals in Western Australia.
The unregulated holiday home market has long had criticism from hoteliers and bed-and-breakfast operators who have a range of fees and regulations attached to their businesses.
It sparked a WA government inquiry in 2019 called Levelling the Playing Field: Managing the Impact of the Rapid Increase of Short-Term Rentals in Western Australia.
Its recommendations have not been implemented.
The Broome Shire's submission noted the only penalty available under the Planning Act was a $500 fine which "was unlikely to be a sufficient deterrent".
Typically homes in Broome's peak season can rent for several hundred dollars a night, and Mr Leake says it has exacerbated the town's rental shortage.
"That's just price gouging. It has a massive impact on the reputation of Broome."
The proposed policy will be submitted to the State Planning Commission once the public comment period is complete.
