60 day limit advised on short term rentals in Byron Bay

Byron Bay, NSW, Australia- January 3, 2018: Touristic guidance directional signs on pole in Byron Bay, a paradise with gorgeous beaches and coastal trails on the North Coast of NSW, Australia.

By Zach Havard

Byron Bay council has been advised to apply a 60 day cap to short term rentals in the area in a bid to support rental availability and affordability.

The news comes after two days of hearings by the states independent planning commission (IPC) that received over 500 written submissions and in the eyes of the local community, is a step in the right direction following the previous proposal of a 90 day cap.

The Byron Bay area has long been a hotspot for tourism on the NSW north coast, and boomed through 2020 and the subsequent COVID periods. In turn, many housing options were turned into short term accommodation, limiting the availability of long term housing for residents.

These issues were highlighted and exacerbated as a result of multiple floods in northern NSW, leaving many residents in the area homeless and angry at the lack of options in their local areas.

“My reaction is ecstatic,” Mayor, Byron Bay Council, Michael Lyon, told the ABC.

“There is a real appreciation by the Commission of the local conditions that we are facing and the importance of having local decision makers able to have the power to implement solutions for the local area. Last year’s devastating floods in northern NSW highlighted the lack of housing stock for locals left homeless. Local politicians at the time said the Byron shire was in the grip of a housing emergency.

Although not all in the local area are as happy with the decision, with some believing it will have a crippling effect on the local economy.

“There is about 1,300 holiday homes registered in Byron and that supplies a huge array of accommodation for mostly Australian families to holiday,” chairman, Australian short term rental accommodation association – Byron Bay, Colin Hussey, told the ABC.

“They spend around $400 million in the Northern Rivers region. Tourism is the number one economic driver in the Byron Shire, and holiday homes bring the highest yielding, most valuable and lowest-impact guests into the region. If you remove the accommodation that they stay in, they are not going to be able to come here. There are many other coastal towns who would like to take up the mantle.’

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byron bay Byron Bay Council Colin Hussey independent planning comissino Michael Lyon