2023-05-21
The Victorian Greens have announced their plan to introduce a bill that would regulate the state’s short-stay industry, in a bid to alleviate the rental crisis.
The Greens say that while the Victorian Labor Government may have turned their backs on renters this week when they joined with disgraced anti-trans MP, Moira Deeming, to block a rental crisis inquiry, the Greens will continue to fight for solutions to the increasingly dire rental crisis.
Right now, Victorians with multiple properties are able to rent out their investment properties as short-stays for holidaymakers – through third party services like Airbnb – for as little or as long as they’d like, at a much higher nightly rate than a long-term rental.
This has had a major impact on the rental markets of both inner-city and regional holiday destinations.
That’s why the Greens are proposing:
- A 90-day cap on how many nights a year you can rent out a secondary property as a short-stay
- New rules to allow owners corporations the power to ban short-stays in apartment buildings
- A new mandatory public register of short-stay operators
Victorian Greens renters’ rights spokesperson, Gabrielle de Vietri, said Victoria’s almost entirely unregulated short-stay industry had played a significant role in the state’s worsening rental crisis.
She added that by introducing stronger regulations, more homes could be used as secure long-term rentals, rather than as an income stream for property investors.
The Greens intend to introduce their bill as soon as Parliament returns, to keep pressure on the Government to stop ignoring renters who are struggling to keep their heads above water.
Earlier this week, the Government voted down a Greens’ motion to hold a parliamentary inquiry into the state’s worsening rental crisis, showing utter contempt for the countless Victorians struggling to find a secure and affordable rental.
Despite the Greens, Legalise Cannabis, the Animal Justice Party, and the Opposition all in support of the inquiry, it was blocked by Labor in the Upper House who sided with the right-wing members of the cross-bench.
Quotes attributable to Victorian Greens renters’ rights spokesperson, Gabrielle de Vietri MP:
“Introducing strong short-stay regulations in Victoria would incentivise Victorians to make investment properties available as long-term rentals, rather than keeping them as short-stays where they sit empty for most of the year.
“In popular holiday destinations in regional Victoria, rents are at record levels while the number of available rental properties has plummeted.
“And in the city, large apartment buildings have been turned into de facto hotels, while renters compete with one another for substandard, mould-infested shoeboxes.
“Cities around the world like New York, Tokyo, London and Berlin regulate their short-stay market. It’s time for us to do the same."