About 1100 to pay Auckland Council's Airbnb rate after 26,000 letters sent out

Friday, 6 July 2018

Just over 1100 properties have so far been identified as needing to pay Auckland Council's new online accommodation rates.

Just over 1100 properties will start paying Auckland Council's new Airbnb rate after a letter-writing campaign targeting 26,000 property owners.

The council has a massive job on its hands to find and charge those subject to the new rules and this week it conceded staff could not find everyone who should be paying the increased levy.

Business rates and the accommodation provider targeted rate (APTR) now extend to the online sector, meaning properties booked between 29 and 135 nights year will have to pay 75 per cent residential and 25 per cent business rates, plus 25 per cent of the APTR rate.

Accommodation booked for more than 135 nights will be rated as a business and will pay the full APTR rate.

* Airbnb rates approved as Auckland Council passes 10 year 'green' budget

* Auckland council targets Airbnb and Bookabach properties for higher rates

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff says he has agreement from Airbnb that a new tax for online accommodation providers is 'the appropriate thing to do'.

* Auckland City plans to exempt 'room only' Airbnb from targeted rates labelled unfair**

Auckland Council has sent 22,495 letters to property owners in the Waitematā Local Board area, which had the highest concentration of short-term online accommodation.

It also sent 3040 letters to residential owners within hotels to figure out if their properties were rented out online, while another 625 letters were sent to body corporate managers relating to online accommodation in their buildings.

An additional 58 hotel managers received letters asking how the properties they managed were used. Meanwhile, the council has already identified 1392 properties through online searches, although some may be within the 28 days threshold.

In total, 26,218 letters had been sent, but the hit rate has been low to date.

A council spokesman said 1172 properties would have their rates changed under the new policy.

'However, as stated, this figure is subject to change,' he said.

'As we are still processing and receiving correspondence and statutory declarations relating to the changes to the online accommodation provider targeted rate, it is too early to say how many properties this will affect at this stage.'

On Monday, the council said an 'unfortunate' shortcoming of the new rating policy was that it could not find everyone who should be paying it.

'Unfortunately, it is not possible to identify all online accommodation providers without the co-operation of the websites involved, as they are currently constrained by their terms of service and privacy settings,' Auckland Council's financial policy manager Andrew Duncan said.

'The decision to extend business rates and the APTR to online accommodation sector from July 1 was to address this disparity and will reduce the amount paid by the traditional accommodation sector,' Duncan added.