Melbourne Poised For Short-Term Rental Rule Changes

The City of Melbourne is poised to start work on “encouraging” short-term rental accommodation properties in the city to move into the long-term rental space. 

Rental properties make up 60 per cent of the accommodation and according to the council, the City of Melbourne has more than 4100 residential properties currently in use as short-stay accommodation.

The council highlighted the issues this can place on the rental market, particularly for essential workers and students. 

Tomorrow, Melbourne councillors will vote to start a consultation process for potential new rules designed to encourage shor- term accommodation to become longer term rentals, with a view to introducing regulations in February 2024.

Options under consideration include a registration fee and a cap on the number of days a property is available for short-term rental. The rules would not apply to hotels or motels. 

Lower rental vacancy rates are bad news for renters and reflect fewer rental properties coming to market.

According to PropTrack analysis, Melbourne’s rental vacancy rate held steady at 1.41 per cent in July, but it is sitting 0.82 percentage points lower than 12 months ago—the largest annual drop of any capital city.

“We are in a housing crisis. Every home that becomes available matters. That’s why we’re looking at ways to encourage property owners to move into the long-term rental market,” Lord Mayor Sally Capp said in a statement.

“Based on benchmarking from other capital cities and municipalities, an annual registration fee for short-term rental properties may be set at $350, and a short-term rental cap may be set at 180 days.”

“This would be an important step to address the housing crisis and increase the number of homes available to our residents, students and key workers.”

Councils and state governments across the country have been looking at so-called “Air BnB bans”, which have been partially blamed for the ongoing rental crisis.

Byron Shire Council has pushed ahead with plans for a 60-day annual cap on short-term holiday lets—other New South Wales councils are reportedly watching the move with interest.

Short-stay accommodation was also in the crosshairs of Brisbane City Council earlier this year. It is funding a Short-Stay Accommodation Taskforce that will have 12 months to develop sector regulations following a rate hike for short-stay accommodation introduced last year.