2019-02-12 Attachment 1 to Item 7 - Short Term Accom Online Platform Issues Paper

Of particular impact on private residential amenity is the rising occurrence of party houses, which
are entire homes rented through Airbnb that are being consistently used for events or celebrations
associated with birthdays, holidays, weddings and other occasions. The utilisation of a rented house
for parties often causes impacts on the amenity of neighbours, who are subjected to unreasonable
noise, health, safety and security hazards, damage to common property or obstruction from using
their property.

There appears to be an exponential increase in the type and number of complaints about amenity
issues arising from neighbours residing near short-term let properties.

Gurran et al. note that, ‘In the Mornington Peninsular, where online accommodation is more urban
in nature, there has been a significant rise in resident complaints about unruly guest behaviour,
excessive noise, nuisance dogs, rubbish and illegal parking’ 19.

Confronted with possible legislation and local laws enforcing a code of conduct on guests, Airbnb
and Stayz have argued that they already offer complaints processes to deal with unruly guests and
party houses. However, the Gurran report notes that such reporting to the platforms has been
ineffective, in part because the person who must respond is generally remote from the location of
the problem, and secondly because many properties are listed on multiple platforms, making it
difficult to know who should handle the complaint.


4.2.2    Public Residential Amenity
Public residential amenity are the qualities, characteristics and attributes people value about a place
which contributes to their experience of a high quality of life11. The public amenity attributes which
people seek and appreciate are varied, according to an individual’s own values. There are a number
of general elements that make a positive contribution to a resident’s life and which contribute to the
broader public amenity of a residential area, including:
   Physical landscape or streetscape.
   Areas of vegetation and public and private open space for recreation, such as parks and
    reserves.
   Urban design, including the scale and dominance of buildings.
   Public views and outlooks.
   Public services.
   Physical safety.

In practical terms, this may mean the ability to park a car in the street adjacent to a home, sufficient
space for Council’s waste contractor to collect waste bins and a reasonable degree of physical safety
when exiting or entering a private residence.

The spread of tourism accommodation away from central tourism and accommodation hubs into
traditionally pure residential areas may be interfering with public residential amenity. There are
consistent anecdotal complaints in relation to:
   more traffic and on-street parking;
   reduced levels of traffic safety;
   increased levels of noise and other emissions from traffic; and
   greater potential for conflict between land uses.




Short Term Accommodation - Online Platform Response Issues Paper                                Page 12