Victorian getaway homes could soon be in short supply after the government said today it would grant body corporations and councils the power to ban them. The new laws accompany a new levy which is designed to free up more housing stock, but opponents to it say it'll just make travelling here, unaffordable.
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00:00Leanne Taylor's Airbnb offers a unique inner-city escape.
00:07Safe, secure, quiet, well-furnished.
00:09But soon she'll be the one fleeing from what she says is the increasingly inhospitable Airbnb business.
00:16I just can't afford to keep it.
00:18Today the government announced it would give local councils and body corporations new powers
00:23to limit or ban owners from using their properties as short-term rentals.
00:28We know that with record low vacancy rates across rental accommodation offerings
00:32we need to be pulling every lever we possibly can.
00:35The government is also pushing ahead with a 7.5% levy on short-term and holiday rentals
00:41which the owner will pay after they receive a booking.
00:44And we've got to get the balance right if we want to get people into homes.
00:48There are about 50,000 short-term rental homes in Victoria
00:52and the government and the Greens hope the new laws forces many of them back onto the long-term rental market.
00:57This is going to crack down on property investors hoarding homes for profit
01:02and it's going to stop them from buying up homes in the first place
01:05just because they can cash in on platforms like Airbnb.
01:08I think they're using us as a bit of a scapegoat for the wider property market issues.
01:15The new laws and the levy come after some landlords continue to lament the state government's controversial land tax
01:22and the industry says all this is doing is making it harder for Victorians to find a cheap place to stay.
01:28It's not something I think Airbnb homeowners are going to absorb.
01:33I think you'll find that that gets passed on to the end guests.
01:36And that may mean that some guests may just choose to go elsewhere.
01:39The new laws and the levy will come into effect at the start of next year.
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