Households with three or less bedrooms in Byron Shire will now be a allowed to rent out rooms for 90 days each year without gaining development consent.
Occupants would be capped at two per bedroom, excluding children under 5 years. Property owners and holiday renters would need to comply with fire safety, amenity impacts and complaints management. The property would need to be registered with Council
Development consent would be required for properties that have more than three bedrooms or wish to holiday let longer than 90 days within a year.
The changes come as a result of the Byron Shire Council amending its Local Environment Plan 2014.
Byron mayor Simon Richardson said the issue of holiday letting has long been a divisive issue.
‘After many consultation sessions with effected residents, property owners and managers, the LEP amendment will allow everyone clear guidance on what is, and is not, acceptable within our towns,’ Cr Richardson said.
‘The outcome was about finding a balance between ensuring neighbourhood amenity and supporting tourism within a planning control that was not overly arduous.
‘It was particularly gratifying to hear from people who had been affected by holiday letting, that they were pleased to see the shire leading Australia with new ground breaking and tough regulations that would help protect amenity,’ he said.
If there are two substantiated complaints within a year, noted Mayor Richardson, then that property would no longer be able to holiday-let.
The property owner or manager must also be contactable 24 hours, 7 days a week, to respond to complaints on issues such as noise, parties, anti-social behaviour that affects neighbourhood amenity.
Signage would be required at the front of the property with contact details.
At the end of 2015, Byron Shire Council placed the planning proposal on public exhibition. Fifty eight public submissions were received.
As a result of the most recent council meeting, the Byron LEP 2014 will now be amended and the new planning controls put into effect. It does not require approval from the NSW Minister for Planning and Environment, as authority had been delegated to the council.
Existing holiday homes will have one year from the gazettal of the new planning controls to comply.
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No, Byron Shire Council. No. You are not “supporting tourism”, you are just ripping off residents.
How much more pathetic can these creeps get? Any other crimes we can be getting on with?
There’s an election coming, and it is to be hoped that you idiots get flushed out more thoroughly
than can be managed in your “peek-a-boo” auto-opening toilets.
Mayor Richardson is not correct. It is more than 2 substantiated complaints in a year and registration is withdrawn or not obtained. Obtaining substantiation has not been made clear and the onus will be on the neighbours to prove the substantiation.
The policy does have some weaknesses which will lead to residential amenity damage. Some regulation changes made by councillors will lead to overcrowding and an increase in offensive noise.
Who would want to live next to a holiday let even with this policy? Certainly not our elected councillors.
So is it, if there are two substantiated complaints per year the offending property will not be allowed to continue or MAY NOT be allowed to continue? Substantiation is the key anomaly…who is the body/person to decide it’s a substantiated complaint. I do not believe for one minute there will be any more protection for the long suffering neighbours of holiday lets. If I can hear people from inside my bedroom when they are SPEAKING on the back verandah next door and cannot sleep because of their conversation they are TOO NOISY. When the noisy neighbour hotline is called they assure me if I’m kept awake by noise I can hear inside my home from the neighbouring property when it is after 10pm and the people are still outside it is a breach of conditions of letting. When the security guard attends the property, unless they are yelling at the top of their voices, the Security do nothing…even though it’s a beach of Terms and Conditions of letting…Clarification is needed!!