With the new cap on unhosted short-term rental accommodation (STRA) of 60 days a year now in place for Byron Shire, Council staff say they ‘will now spend the next several months focusing on consolidating data on unhosted properties’.
In a media release last week, Shannon Burt, Council’s Director Sustainable Environment and Economy said the new regulation is a first for NSW, and came into effect on September 23 .
‘Getting this 60-day cap approved by the NSW government took many years of work and is recognition of the difficulty many people, including key workers, face in finding stable, long-term accommodation in the shire’.
The consolidation of unhosted properties includes those registered on the NSW government Short Term Rental Accommodation Register, says Ms Burt, ‘as well as public and private listings on online booking platforms’.
‘Once we are confident our data is robust, we will begin looking closely for property owners who are breaching the new regulations.
‘Residents also have a role to play, and we are asking them to get in touch with us if they think their neighbours are breaching the new rules.
‘This is new territory for us and there is no rule book to follow so we will be reviewing and refining our approaches as we go,’ Ms Burt said.
Information about STRA is on Council’s website.
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