Supporting business  |  12 Jun 2019

Christchurch City Council is pushing for new legislation so that councils that choose to can require all short-term accommodation providers, including Airbnb operators, to register with their local council.

The Airbnb app.

The advent of online listing platforms like Airbnb have helped grow a largely informal accommodation provider sector.

It has put forward a remit to Local Government New Zealand’s Annual General Meeting seeking the sector’s support for the new legisliation, which it says is necessary if local government is to fairly and efficiently regulate guest accommodation providers.

Deputy Mayor Andrew Turner says the Council has received numerous complaints and requests for action from hotels, motels and campgrounds who want short-term rental accommodation providers brought into the same regulatory framework that they are required to operate in.

“It is our view that there is a need for legislation that would allow Councils to require all guest accommodation providers to register with them and to keep records of how often their properties are used for short-term rental accommodation,’’ Cr Turner says.

“Councils need access to that information if they are to want formulate an effective regulatory and rating approach that creates a level playing field across the guest accommodation sector in the communities they represent.’’

Nitrates in water

Christchurch City Council is also seeking support at the LGNZ’s AGM for a remit which seeks Government funding for additional research into the effects on people’s health of nitrates in drinking water.

“There does not appear to be a robust national system for monitoring and reporting nitrate in drinking water, not a programme or system in place for considering whether the current drinking water standard for nitrate is still appropriate for protecting human health,’’ its remit says.

The Council wants LGNZ to recommend that central government fund additional research into effects of nitrates in drinking water on human health and/or partner with international public health organisations to promote such research.

The Council’s remits, along with those submitted by other Councils around New Zealand, will be considered at the LGNZ AGM in Wellington on 7 July.