Investment property expert says councils should crack down on holiday rental providers

A property investment expert says councils should crack down on short-term holiday rental providers who are not paying business rates without the government's help.

The Christchurch City Council wants the government to make accommodation platforms like Airbnb share data including accommodation addresses and how many nights an unhosted property has been rented out for.

Councillor Nathanial Herz Jardine told RNZ he was urging other councils to call for legislation to help councils identify accommodation providers paying residential rates who should be paying business rates.

He also wanted to prevent "ghost neighbourhoods" full of visitors coming and going rather than permanent residents.

But economist Ed McKnight from property investment company Opes Partners told Checkpoint councils could be more proactive instead of waiting for a law change.

"If the council is not going to crack down and enforce their rules, then you will get bad behaviour.

"There is a culture of some property developers promoting their investments as Airbnb's when they don't have consent.

"Some investors will skirt around the rules and just hope the Christchurch City Council doesn't give them a letter. The councillor saying they're not going to crack down until they get a register is probably going to encourage that culture rather than knock it on its head."

McKnight said he had a client who put their Christchurch property on Airbnb but did not pay business rates, despite his company advising it.

"They ultimately did get pulled up by Christchurch City Council. That's what should be happening."

He said while a nationwide bed register would make it easier for councils, there were resources available, such as the short-term rental data analytics website AirDNA, that they could use now.

"You can see what properties are available and how many nights a year they're currently being rented for. But it isn't quite as easy because they don't list the exact address, but you can see where they are."

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