GEORGE TOWN: Short-term stay (STS) rentals remain a contentious issue here, with Airbnb taking exception to some of the guidelines proposed by the Penang government.
The portal for short-term homestays, which shared the proposed guidelines on its platform, said Penang should not limit STS rentals in strata buildings to only three days a week per reservation and up to 180 nights a year per unit.
It also called for all “tax-paying residents” in Penang to be allowed to run STS businesses instead of permitting only Malaysians who have registered a business entity for the purpose, to do it.
The guidelines have not been officially announced by the state government.
It was previously reported that Penang housing, local government, town and country planning committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo had said that guidelines to regulate STS on Penang island would be announced this month.
“We have done the guidelines for high-rise buildings. As for landed properties, we are still fine-tuning it,” he was quoted as saying.
On Friday, Airbnb said the proposed guidelines, if adopted, could severely limit guest travel and undermine efforts to promote Penang and Malaysia as a digital nomad hub.
Apparently, the guidelines would, among others, empower the joint management bodies (JMB), management committees (MC), and agencies to enforce, take action, and even issue fines on STS operators in residential areas if their businesses or their guests disturb the peace or flout the rules in such residences.
Permission to operate STS businesses is also subject to yearly renewals by the respective JMB, MC or building management agencies, which are empowered to reject such applications if conditions are not met.
The proposed guidelines also require all STS operators in Penang to submit full annual reports on their operations to the local authority’s Commissioner of Buildings and also to their JMB or MC.
In a statement, Airbnb called for STS to be allowed in all strata buildings with commercial titles, which are already zoned for commercial activities.
“For strata buildings with residential titles, residents should be able to continue using the existing Strata Management Act to collectively decide with a 75% vote via their JMB or MC if any conditions or restrictions should be implemented,” it said.
Airbnb also called for a simple and low-cost online authorisation portal for STS hosts.
It said the proposed guidelines by the state government required an “onerous process” in which all hosts must register their businesses with the Malaysian Companies Commission and submit physical forms to apply for additional licences from local authorities.
Airbnb’s head of public policy for South East Asia, India, Hong Kong and Taiwan, Mich Goh, said that STS and their guests would be key drivers for Penang’s tourism industry and, more broadly, the Malaysian economy.
She said that guidelines proposed by the Penang government would cause constraints on domestic and international travel to Penang and would be detrimental to the state’s tourism industry and long-term economic growth.
Previously, Airbnb had urged the Federal Government to consider a national regulatory framework to ensure that STS rules are uniform across the country. But Malaysian Association of Hotels vice-president Datuk Khoo Boo Lim, who is Penang-based, points out that STS offerings cannot beat hotel safety, among other things.
“These condominiums and houses do not have fire sprinklers and fire-retardant doors,” he said.
