Curbs on investment property owners renting out their homes on short-stay holiday platforms, such as Airbnb, should be considered in Canberra, the ACT Greens have said.
An assessment of tougher regulation for short-stay rentals forms part of the party's election commitments to improve the housing market for renters.
All rental properties would also have to come with curtains and a fixed living-room heater under the Greens' plan to improve the homes for tenants.
The party also wants to implement a tax on vacant houses and stricter rules around occupancy agreements, which are often used in university accommodation and afford tenants fewer rights than those who sign tenancy agreements.
All suitable public housing would have solar panels installed and all-electric upgrades completed by 2030 and all new public housing would have solar panels from 2025 if the Greens' plan is adopted.
Greens leader Shane Rattenbury said the commitments were designed to ensure housing met the needs of tenants and would not push existing landlords out of the market.
"We know that around a third of Canberrans are renting and there are a range of rental properties across this city that really don't meet the standards that most people would expect in a home they live in," Mr Rattenbury said.
Mr Rattenbury pointed to a government-commissioned report that found insulation standards introduced in April 2023 did not take properties out of the rental market or significantly push up the cost of renting in the territory.
The Greens want to commission a regulatory impact statement by mid next year to examine short-term rental regulation that would limit the rentals to primary residential homes.
"This would mean that people can rent their spare room, or their whole home when they are away, but cannot use an investment property solely as a short-term rental," the party's policy said.
The party also wants to consider the impact of rules to restrict the number of short-term rentals one investor can operate and forcing short-term rental platforms to provide information about their activities to the ACT government.
The assessment would also examine giving owners' corporations the power to veto short-term rentals in their buildings.
The ACT government in December 2023 said introducing restrictions on short-stay rental accommodation in Canberra would do more harm than good, with little evidence the services affected housing affordability.
The government said at the time restricting supply of short-term rentals would not necessarily result in increased supply in the long-term rental market, and that short-term rentals provided "considerable benefits" to the ACT.
"In the ACT, regulation to restrict STRA could also create unintended consequences, such as increased demand for long-term rentals from people who come to Canberra regularly for work (i.e., members of parliament and their staff) but do not permanently occupy a dwelling," the government said.
This year's territory budget outlined the introduction a new tax on short-stay rentals in the ACT.
