Dubbo Regional Council building and development services manager Stephen Wallace said where people were conducting short-term accommodation letting on a commercial basis they should be aware of any planning requirements.

But he said they were finding that some homesharing “may not necessarily trigger, or may not clearly trigger” the definitions of development that required approval.

“And that’s where our regulatory approach has been to be fairly light,” he said.

“We’re certainly monitoring situations and responding to complaints, but not actively taking a hardline regulatory approach to these situations and for now that balanced approach seems to be working. We don’t have a significant conflict in the land use area in that regard.”

The online homesharing economy has grown rapidly.

Mr Wallace said Dubbo was part of the “global mega trend” but exactly how much was going on in the city was not known.

“Council’s approach is that we don’t actively spend resources on monitoring how active it is in the city,” he said.

“We’re aware it’s occurring, we’re aware it’s bigger than Dubbo and certainly we’re aware that the NSW government for example is monitoring the situation.”

NSW legislation has been left to catch up.

Mr Wallace reported the council would make a submission to a state government options paper.

“... that will, hopefully, they’re talking about providing that sort of whole of government framework guidance that really the industry is looking for at this stage,” he said.

“And the language that’s being used by the state government is not to crack down on this but more to just come up with practical, legislative frameworks that protect the local neighbours and also enable airbnb short-term letting type accommodation to continue.

“Because it really does add value to the local economy as well and we certainly realise that.”

He anticipated the legislative framework would start to adapt soon.

“The state government has stepped into that vacuum as they should...” he said.

“And I think within the next 12 to 18 months you’ll start to see that framework come through in terms of the legislation and then Dubbo Regional Council’s position will be to adapt to that position as well to give us all a bit more certainty in that area.”