The City of Port Phillip is the most recent council to show that it hears residents’ fears about short term accommodation.  The CEO has been instructed to prepare a report on how other councils manage short term rentals, with proposals on how they could be regulated.

This directive was the result of a community petition demanding that the council take action to develop and enforce rules on short stay operations in the CoPP. The investigative report will be presented to council next month.

Many councils have now introduced basic regulations. Bass Coast, Frankston, Mornington Peninsula and most recently Warrnambool have implemented registration systems for short stay hosts, charging an annual fee. Yarra Ranges Council lobbied the state government to take responsibility for regulating short stays. 

The petitioners have told PPM that they are not trying to stop small businesses. It’s about introducing registration and making hosts accountable when they are in fact operating an unregulated hotel within a private residential building without any training or safety acts and not caring about the long-term effects on neighbours or community. We are not trying the penalise the responsible operators.

Current state laws are inadequate, and that not one single host has been fined or suspended through VCAT for poor behaviour. Laws introduced in 2019 imposed a three-strike rule, which gave VCAT the power to ban hosting for a period, issue fines for hosts and award compensation up to $2,000 to affected residents.  Since the introduction of the laws, VCAT has heard fifty short stay disputes however, no legal action has been imposed on a host. 

It is also an offence to make unreasonable noise from a residence under the Environment Protection Act 2017 which has been updated to include short stay rental accommodation in the definition of residential premises. Importantly, the regulations apply to agents, owners, and occupiers and seeks to limit noise in residential areas during restricted times. Noise is unreasonable when it occurs during prohibited hours and where someone in a habitable room in any other residence can hear it. 

Regulation of short-term accommodation by council is controversial because short stay hosts have told Port Phillip Matters that CoPP do not have the resources and capability to properly regulate this market, based on council’s inability to enforce noise and antisocial behaviour at late night venues and hotels. 

As the petition organiser stated, “imagine you or your family member living next door to these unregulated business party houses who do not answer to anyone in terms of sound pollution, number of patrons, age limits or operating hours.” 

The petition is asking for owners’ corporations to have the right to decide if a building can have short term stays, and that there should be a limit on the number of days an apartment could be rented. There would also be penalties for those who breach the rules. 

There is also little evidence that short term stays are contributing to the local economy. Where houses and apartments are being used as private party venues, patrons can bring their own alcohol and catering, and therefore not filling local bars and restaurants, which hotel guests are much more likely to do.

Also, the Victoria Hotel Association Melbourne has confirmed that they only achieved 72% hotel occupancy for the month of February 2023, so why are our politicians not making sure accommodation is being maximised in purpose-built buildings by an industry that creates jobs and pay taxes to benefit the community?

Under current state laws, Owners Corporations do not have the power to limit short term rentals within their own buildings.

Are short term Accommodation platforms causing you a problem? 

Don’t suffer in Silence! If you find it difficult to have your say, email the CEO using the Link below.

https://www.portphillip.vic.gov.au/council-services/health-and-safety/short-stay-accommodation or contact  (03) 9209 6777