Changes to visitor accommodation rules follow Environment Court decision

A distinction between visitor accommodation, residential visitor accommodation, and homestays is now confirmed in Queenstown Lakes District Council’s (QLDC) Proposed District Plan (PDP), following a decision released by the Environment Court on Monday 30 January 2023.

The decision was made as part of a mediated outcome between QLDC and appellants Airbnb, with residential visitor accommodation to now include the letting of any building established as a residential unit, irrespective of whether it is used for residential activity or is solely commercial for guests.

The number of permitted days that residential visitor accommodation activity can operate will differ across various zones throughout the Queenstown Lakes District, ranging from 42 nights in the Jacks Point Zone due to the area’s constitution, to 90 nights and higher in other zones.

QLDC General Manager Planning & Development, Tony Avery acknowledged the decision and shared his thanks to Council staff for their work on the matter that went before the Environment Court.

“Our approach to visitor accommodation has always been one of trying to balance the needs of visitors to the district with the locals who live and work here, and QLDC is one of the first councils in New Zealand to create planning rules that regulate short-term letting.”

“The Queenstown Lakes has well-documented issues with the supply and affordability of housing which continue to create barriers for those who wish to call the district home, people that businesses and our community desperately need,’ said Mr Avery.

“Council tried to significantly restrict the number of days houses could be used for residential visitor accommodation in a bid to improve the availability of housing for rent. However, the outcome differs from what we initially proposed at the start of this process.”

In 2017 QLDC initiated a change to the Proposed District Plan with strict limitations on residential visitor accommodation. The majority of submissions and submitter evidence put before a hearing panel sought less restrictive rules, which Mr Avery said had influenced the final version of planning provisions Council now has.

Mr Avery noted that Council would be submitting on central government’s draft resource management reform legislation currently open for consultation and with the aim that reforms enable short-term letting to be addressed in the future National Planning Framework.

Mayor Glyn Lewers expressed his disappointment with the outcome but accepted that under the Resource Management Act (RMA), there wasn’t deemed enough evidence to correlate housing issues with the supply of visitor accommodation.

“While solving the big picture is a job for central government and Council will continue to lobby the Minister of Housing for real change, housing remains a significant issue we need to address in the Queenstown Lakes. Council can work at a district level to help, and we have been doing so for some time,” said Mr Lewers.

Council established the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust (QLCHT) in 2007 and has required large-scale developers to contribute money or land to the trust, to enable it to provide housing options to those in need.

“The Housing Accords and Special Housing Areas Act (HASHAA) was also introduced in 2013 with the purpose of enhancing affordability by facilitating an increase in land and housing supply in districts like our own, and my predecessor Jim Boult set up the Mayoral Housing Affordability Taskforce in April 2017 to investigate new ways of addressing housing affordability in our district. One tangible outcome has been the secure housing model used by the QLCHT, which has been emulated around the country,” added Mr Lewers.

“Most recently we have proposed a plan change to formalise inclusionary zoning provisions that would ensure developers contribute towards affordable housing. This will be a first in Aotearoa New Zealand if successful.”

Mayor Lewers reiterated that whilst all these initiatives were important parts of the solution, much more could be achieved at a national level.

“Some of the current drivers affecting the market are the resurgence of tourism, changes to tenancy legislation which make renting out your holiday home for limited periods a more difficult proposition, and the new healthy home standards which apply to long-term rentals but not short-term accommodation.”

“We will continue to work with national government and local stakeholders to achieve positive results for current and future residents of our district,” he said.

QLDC’s planning rules are more lenient for homestay activities, which occur when a residential household lets an individual room in the house for short term accommodation. Homestay activities have minimal impact on housing supply.

Changes have been made to visitor accommodation provisions through Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the PDP, impacting visitor accommodation activities across the entire district.

All appeals have now been resolved, and the provisions in the District Plan are now considered operative.

ENDS|KUA MUTU.

Media contact: communications@qldc.govt.nz or call 03 441 1802.

FURTHER INFORMATION | Kā pāroko tāpiri:

QLDC Visitor Accommodation Factsheet 2023: https://webadmin.qldc.govt.nz/media/2eybhb2s/qldc_district-plan_fact-sheet_visitor-accommodation_jan23.pdf

QLDC Visitor Accommodation Practice Notice 2023: https://webadmin.qldc.govt.nz/media/jx1k4p2e/visitor-accommodation-practice-note-jan23-pdf.pdf

Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust: https://www.qlcht.org.nz/

More information about the Mayoral Housing Affordability Taskforce can be found here: https://www.qldc.govt.nz/your-council/major-projects/mayoral-housing-affordability-taskforce

More information about Approved Special Housing Areas and HASHAA can be found here: https://www.qldc.govt.nz/your-council/council-documents/policies/special-housing-areas#:~:text=The%20Housing%20Accords%20and%20Special%20Housing%20Areas%20Act%20(the%20HASHAA,housing%20supply%20and%20affordability%20issues