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COURT DECISION ON QUEENSTOWN AIRBNB

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February, 2023

A distinction between visitor accommodation, residential visitor
accommodation, and homestays is now confirmed in Queenstown
Lakes District Councils (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 areas 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
governments 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 wasnt 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.
QLDCs 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.