Home owners who rent out their properties on peer-to-peer accommodation websites in one of the country's most iconic tourist towns will soon have to register with the council.

Broome Shire Council committed to the changes last month as part of a new planning scheme, which is still awaiting approval from the West Australian Planning Minister.

Under the previous scheme the shire had no ability to approve short-term rental properties to operate in areas marked for residential use.

But the new scheme gives the council the power to allow the properties in residential zones as long as owners seek permission.

The changes come after the shire investigated some owners of short-term rentals for flouting the previous planning regulations.

'Back to the pack'

Broome Shire president Harold Tracey told the ABC the regulations were aimed at stopping Airbnb owners from operating outside of the town's planning scheme.

"Council wants to create a level playing field between legitimately approved tourism operators and owners who are making their homes available for short-stay accommodation in contravention of the current planning scheme," Mr Tracey said.

“The changes will mean that owners [of Airbnbs] in the relevant zones will be able to apply for development approval and the shire will be in a position to exercise discretion to approve them, whereas currently the shire must refuse them."

People who operated resorts and hotels paid higher rates, while people who operated short-term rentals had "no constraints around them", Mr Tracey said.

"It's about … bringing them back to the pack when it comes to paying their way, basically," he said.

"And also to consider other community members around areas where people have holiday homes."

Mr Tracey says the shire will hold an amnesty period for Airbnb operators, but thereafter "compliance action would then be instigated against operators who have not sought approvals".

Worsening crisis

Broome Habitat Resort manager Michael Leake told the ABC the Airbnbs in the town were compounding Broome's housing crisis.

"This is one of the factors and a big factor in why we have a housing crisis in Broome right now," he said.

Mr Tracey agreed that the number of short-term rentals on platforms like Airbnb and Stayz in town was worsening problems with the rental market in Broome.

"People have taken their houses off the rental market, and good luck to them … making just as much off them as a rental in three months," he said.

"But the other side of the coin there is that we don't have that rental stock there for those people who want to settle in Broome."

Statewide scheme?

The changes follow last year's release of a Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage (DPLH) draft position statement endorsing a plan for a statewide registration scheme for short-term rentals.

Under the proposed scheme, owners of Airbnbs would receive a unique registration number and have to register their property in order to operate or advertise.

"State government agencies are currently working together to progress potential implementation of the registration scheme," a DPLH spokesperson said.

They said Broome's new planning regulations still needed to approved by the Planning Minister. 

"It is anticipated that the Western Australian Planning Commission will make a recommendation to the Minister for Planning on the suitability of the Shire of Broome's Local Planning Scheme No.7 by the end of the 2022," the spokesperson said.

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