Airbnb is disrupting the peace for residents of strata buildings

People renting out apartments to rowdy holidaymakers are creating misery for strata residents.

 You may not have noticed, but a state parliamentary inquiry into short-term rentals is under way and you have a couple of weeks in which to submit your thoughts.

Even if you don’t, those hip and groovy charmers from online holiday rental agencies will be all over it, using buzzwords such as “disruptive” and “sharing economy” and “collaborative consumption” to plead their case.

I’m pretty sure they will be less vocal on unfashionable words such as responsibility, bylaws, levies, taxes, zoning, and wear and tear.

Living in strata has enough problems without an agency like Airbnb coming along and helping owners and tenants to illegally let their entire flat to footy fans, bucks parties and boisterous families out for a good holiday.

Even worse, if anyone in the building complains, they’ll let the hosts know but after that it’s up to the hosts – just as long as Airbnb gets their commission. Cue sound of hands being washed.

Those hip and groovy charmers from online holiday rental agencies will be all over the inquiry.

Airbnb isn’t breaking any law that I know of, but it is,  without accepting any responsibility for the consequences, earning squillions out of making it easy for greedy, selfish apartment owners and tenants to disrupt the peaceful lives of their neighbours.

Letting entire houses is fine but a unit in a residential block means maximum pain for one person’s gain.

It would take agencies half a second to compile a register of unit blocks where short-term letting is clearly banned and apartments shouldn’t be listed.

Residential apartment blocks are people’s homes and if a different set of party animals and hyped-up holidaymakers was traipsing through yours every weekend, you’d have something to say about it.

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