NSW Government discussion paper on short- and long-term rental accommodation

I would like to submit a case for NOT imposing additional levies (tax) on residents where there will be absolutely no benefit to our community. My wife and I purchased a unit in a complex over five years ago as our retirement home. We travel extensively and when we go for extended periods, we rent our apartment on the holiday & short term market as it helps to cover some of the cost of our travel. Any additional fees imposed on us would just make the whole process more expensive without ANY benefit to the community. I can understand where large numbers of investors buy up all the accommodation as purely investment vehicle, as has happened in Byron, but higher stamp duty already serves as a deterrent. Byron has the luxury of not needing more tourism, so they can take a hard line. I doubt the Tweed Shire Council can say the same.

There are however many cases I have heard of where investors purchase holiday apartments, at a reduced price because they are not allowed to live permanently, but in fact stay permanently in these properties, thus limiting the number of room nights available. This pushes the price for temporary and permanent letting up and council does nothing to stop it.

There is no “one size fits all” policy and when you drastically alter a ratepayer’s lifestyle then there will always be consequences.

It’s good to have a discussion and I understand that this is the discussion stage, but when I completed the survey, it seemed that a few of the decisions had already been assumed. Please don’t act hastily to score points with non ratepayers.

If you start implementing limits on STRA, or imposing levies on them it will be a lose/lose for the community. We are farmers from the west of the state and have a second home at Kingscliff that will in 10 years become our retirement home. Due to the intensity of our summer cropping program, we are unable to use the home between October and April. During this time we allow it to be let as a STRA and it is very heavily booked during this time.
This practice allows businesses in the community to benefit. Hospitality, retail, cleaners, pool and yard maintainence and tradies all get a benefit from this arrangement. The money we recieve largely goes to the substantial maintainence cost associated with owning a home in this extreme coastal environment, and keep the place in tip top shape for ours and our neighbours benefit.
If restrictions were put on to this practice and by doing so making STRA unviable, this would not open up more long term rental in our case. We would simply lock the place up for 6 months and no one would benefit. Try and explain that to the businesses mentioned above, and to the neighbourhood as inevitably the maintanence would suffer as it is no longer imperative that the place needs to look 100% all the time. We bought here years ago because we like the community the way it is, and we liked how the council was pragmatic to the needs of the tourism sector as this all adds to the colour of the region. If you want more housing then release more land, there is plenty of it around. Dont punish those who seek to enjoy the lifestyle and add to the economy by doing so.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback on the STRA discussion paper.



We are a property management company operating solely in the Tweed Shire. A large percentage of our portfolio comprises non-hosted short-term holiday lets in locations from Fingal to Pottsville.



We employ more than 40 full time staff across a variety of positions in administration, operations, cleaning and groundskeeping roles. This is complemented by a large contingent of casual workers who are employed in school holidays to service the holiday accommodation peak periods.



Due to the higher volume of guest turnover in short term lets, we constantly engage local trades, services and suppliers, many on a daily basis. These include Tweed-based electrical, plumbing, mechanical, building services, glaziers, builders, carpet cleaning, pest control, pool services, air-conditioning/refrigeration techs, fire compliance services and waste resource management, and the list goes on. Additionally, we pride ourselves in sourcing our products from local producers and suppliers.



Our broad distribution networks attract both domestic and international guests. Interstate visitors and travellers from Greater Sydney and the NSW central and southern coasts are strong source markets for us, too. While leisure visitors comprise a large number of our bookings during peak school holiday periods, this is only one segment of visitors we see in our short term rentals.



During non-holiday periods – when local hospitality and retail businesses struggle - we welcome a huge influx of visitors during local events such as surf carnivals, music festivals and corporate conferences. We have nurtured ongoing relationships with corporate clients to bolster visitor numbers during low season periods each year. We are currently hosting crews of two large international television production companies. Our accommodations are also utilised by invaluable out-of-town specialists who are helping to build Tweed’s infrastructure projects and set up the new hospital.


A reduction in capacity to accommodate these short terms stays for leisure, event, corporate and conference visitors will have unrecoverable and lasting negative impacts on Tweed’s retail and hospitality operators.



This shortfall in the visitor economy will be compounded by the Council’s recent complacency in allowing residential occupancy of accommodation which has been earmarked by Council as exclusively for tourism use. Properties such as Paradiso Resort, Peppers Resorts, Bale, Marine Boutique Apartments and Mantra are all seeing a steady increase in unsanctioned residential occupancy which goes unchecked.



These properties are all located in the heart of Kingscliff and Salt village restaurant/retail precincts where visitor spend is crucial to local established businesses.



If Council is to consider regulatory measures to support an increase in long term rentals, this must be balanced by Council’s regulation of rental occupancy in tourism zones as well. In these Resorts the full allocation of short term rentals needs to be retained and the regulations enforced, in order to sustain the Tweed businesses which were established around them, and which rely so heavily on them. It is unreasonable to expect these operators to survive - let alone thrive - in these hospitality precincts without your support.



We trust that Council will take an equitable and holistic viewpoint when assessing the repercussions of any measures which impact the balance of rental accommodations in the Shire.



With kind regards,



Janene Lund
Principal
KINGSCLIFF ACCOMMODATION & PROPERTY MANAGEMENT PTY LTD

M: 0408 937 709