{"id":96483,"date":"2025-08-26T06:21:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T06:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/96483\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T06:21:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T06:21:10","slug":"city-of-hobart-trials-ai-software-to-clamp-down-on-unauthorised-short-stay-accommodation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/96483\/","title":{"rendered":"City of Hobart trials AI software to clamp down on unauthorised short-stay accommodation"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Tasmanian council is using artificial intelligence to clamp down on property owners listing their homes as short-term rentals without the required permits \u2014 and dodging higher council rates.<\/p>\n

Hobart has more short-stay properties per head than any other Australian capital, with more than 1,500 premises currently listed.<\/p>\n

Under planning rules, many of these properties require permits from the City of Hobart to operate as short-term rentals, particularly if the entire dwelling is rented out to visitors.<\/p>\n

\"Karen<\/p>\n

Karen Abey says it’s important “everybody is playing by the same rules”. (ABC News: Meg Whitfield)<\/p>\n

To track down properties being listed without authorisation, the council is trialling software that scrapes the internet each day to find every short-term rental in the city.<\/p>\n

Stream now on ABC iview <\/a><\/p>\n

The enigmatic Isabelle arrives in the quiet seaside cul-de-sac of Pleasant Court \u2014 and suspicions quickly rise. Stream all episodes now on ABC iview.<\/p>\n

The council’s director of strategic and regulatory services, Karen Abey, said staff then access this list to ensure each property has the required permits.<\/p>\n

“It’s really just allowing us to be much more nimble and keep a closer eye on what’s going on out there,” Ms Abey said.<\/p>\n

“We think there could potentially be quite a few properties out there not being used properly.”<\/p>\n

Ms Abey said the trial was launched on Friday and had already identified four potentially unauthorised listings.<\/p>\n

The previous system involved council staff manually sifting through quarterly reports provided by the Tasmanian government, which meant rogue properties could go undetected for months.<\/p>\n

Unauthorised listings dodge hiked rates<\/p>\n

The rise of short-term rentals in Hobart has been a flashpoint in the city’s housing debate, with critics linking the surge to rising rates and fewer rentals<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2023, the council introduced a policy to double the rates on short-stay properties<\/a> in a bid to ease pressure on the housing market.<\/p>\n

Alex Bomford is the acting principal solicitor of the Tenants Union of Tasmania, which has been a vocal critic of the increase in short-stay accommodation like Airbnb.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Alex Bomford says some short-term rental owners are “trying to skirt the extra rates”. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

He said the “obvious reason” short-term rentals were being listed in Hobart without proper permits was that property owners were “trying to skirt the extra rates”.<\/p>\n

Ms Abey stressed that not all cases necessarily reflected deliberate wrongdoing and said planning rules could “be a little confusing”.<\/p>\n

She said the council would contact non-compliant owners and give them a chance to explain the situation.<\/p>\n

“It’s important that everybody is playing by the same rules \u2026 and paying the extra rates if that’s how they’re using their property,” Ms Abey said.\"A<\/p>\n

There are more than 1,500 short-term rentals in the Hobart local government area. (Supplied: Airbnb)<\/p>\n

Mr Bomford said he was supportive of the plan to track down illegal short-term rentals, but felt the laws being enforced needed to be stronger.<\/p>\n

He said the tenants’ union would like to see a ban on full properties being listed as short-stay accommodation, particularly in areas of high demand, like Hobart.<\/p>\n

“Our view on [short-term rentals] is it hollows out the city and makes rentals more difficult to get for residents or makes them more expensive,” Mr Bomford said.<\/p>\n

Airbnb an ‘economic lifeline’, company says<\/p>\n

The head of public policy for Airbnb Australia and New Zealand, Michael Crosby, said all hosts are expected to comply with local laws and regulations.<\/p>\n

He said the company regularly shares data with the Tasmanian government so councils and policymakers can “make evidence-based decisions”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Michael Crosby says all Airbnb hosts are expected to comply with local laws and regulations. (ABC News: Shaun Kingma)<\/p>\n

Mr Crosby pointed to research by Oxford Economics, which found Airbnb contributed millions of dollars to the Tasmanian economy and supported thousands of jobs.<\/p>\n

“Housing is an economic lifeline for many during this cost-of-living crisis, with 45 per cent of Aussie hosts saying the money they earn from Airbnb helps them stay in their homes,” Mr Crosby said.<\/p>\n

“It is important to get the balance right, so the core issue of housing affordability is addressed, without jeopardising the economic benefits that flow from short-stay accommodation.”<\/p>\n

The City of Hobart will trial the new software for the next year before a decision is made on whether it is adopted permanently.<\/p>\n

Ms Abey said this decision would be based on the effectiveness of the program and the cost benefits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Tasmanian council is using artificial intelligence to clamp down on property owners listing their homes as short-term…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":96484,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[70923,256,40680,254,255,64,63,70924,2467,12804,7688,70925,19952,70922,105],"class_list":["post-96483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-accommodation","tag-ai","tag-airbnb","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-city-of-hobart","tag-council","tag-hobart","tag-housing","tag-michael-crosby","tag-rental","tag-short-stay","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}