Visitor Accommodation Reminder

Date:

Jan 9, 2017

Owners who have been advertising rooms or a whole house for short-term accommodation but paying residential rates on their property are about to get a letter from the Queenstown Lakes District Council reminding them to register the property as Visitor Accommodation.

The Council has been checking properties advertised for short-term rent online to make sure they are in the appropriate category on the rates database, and also that they have the right resource consents where these are required.

As a result of the audit, 792 property owners are being contacted and reminded that they need to register their properties, apply for resource consent or alternatively stop advertising their properties for short-term rent. This would also apply if tenants had been sub-letting rooms in a house without the landlord’s knowledge.

Registration can be completed online through the Council’s website.

Properties that are reclassified as visitor accommodation will pay higher rates from 1 July 2017.