25 September 2018

Roger Jaensch, Minister for Planning

Consultation to commence on Short Stay Accommodation Legislation

The Hodgman Liberal Government is strongly supportive of the sharing economy but it’s important that those who benefit from the sharing economy make sure they are doing the right thing.

This week the draft Short Stay Accommodation Bill 2018 will be released for consultation so everyone has the opportunity to have their say.

The legislation will serve two important purposes; to ensure everyone is playing by the rules, and, to paint a clear picture of home sharing across Tasmania.

The scope of the proposed legislation aims to:

• Require people who list a property to provide online listing platforms with their required permit and other compliance information when requesting a new online listing, and update existing online Tasmanian listings;
• Require online listing platforms to collect permit and other compliance information for all online listings of short stay accommodation in Tasmania;
• Introduce penalties for people who knowingly make a false declaration, or fail to provide permit and compliance information when listing a Tasmanian property online;
• Introduce penalties for online listing platforms who fail to provide the permit information for a Tasmanian online listing;
• Require the sharing of permit and compliance information by online platforms with the Government, for the purpose of ensuring compliance of the rules and to inform policy.
• Enable the Government to share information with relevant planning authorities whilst also protecting privacy.

To support this, we have also commenced a public awareness campaign detailing the responsibilities of homeowners when it comes to listing a property for short stay accommodation.

These steps will ensure the checks and balances are in place when it comes to short stay accommodation so that Tasmanians and visitors alike can continue to share in its benefits.

The draft Bill, together with a summary of the Bill will be available on the Department of Justice’s Planning Reform Website on www.planningreform.tas.gov.au

More Media Releases from Roger Jaensch

More Media Releases from the Minister for Planning