The removal of the equivalent of nine World Towers' worth of properties pushes up house prices, land prices and rental prices. Credit:Fiona-Lee Quimby To give you an idea of the scale of this new boom, the University of Sydney's Urban Housing Lab recently found that short-term letting platforms have removed 6000 properties from the long-term rental market throughout NSW. Don't think that sounds like a problem? Well consider for a second the significant macro issues for the city and state, as well as the micro ones for those living with this dramatic change. First to the macro. Meriton's World Tower in the middle of Sydney remains the tallest and largest residential building in Sydney, with around 700 apartments. In the past three or four years, the multinational Airbnb conglomerate and its colleagues have removed the equivalent of just under nine World Towers from the rental market. These properties are no longer available to tenants. They are not available for sale. They are not available to live in – they are available only for discount tourists. Now what does the quick removal of the equivalent of nine World Towers' worth of precious and often well-located properties do to house prices, to land prices and to rental prices: it pushes them all up, of course. So yes, people talk about the impact land release policies and tax incentives have on property prices, but let's bell this cat (or indeed, these apps), and add short-term stay platforms to the list of things governments can do to address housing affordability.

The laws governing these vertical villages are in desperate need of an update. Credit:Louise Kennerley Now to the micro issues. In addition to the impact on affordability, the effect short-term letting has on strata communities is real and growing. From amenity and safety issues, to who covers the cost when damage is done, apartment owners are increasingly unprotected and concerned, but the law leaves residents with little remedy and no say in the short-term letting process. It is us who are living with the infernal parties on balconies, backpackers shagging in our pools, gymnasiums we pay for that we can no longer use, people in our building who we don't know and the bill for all of the damage and wear and tear to our lifts and hallways. Short-term letting platforms have removed 6000 properties from the long-term rental market. Credit:Peter Rae And year-on-year, this is happening more and more as the apps get more popular and the international short-stay conglomerates get bigger.

Thankfully, the NSW government has turned some attention to this; to the list of issues and the evidence supporting sensible regulation of short-term letting. A recently released options paper presents the option for owners' corporations to have the right to decide whether these tourist platforms are allowed in their individual buildings. It is an option that must be pursued, not only because it's the fair thing to do, or because of the aforementioned impact these platforms have on housing affordability and amenity, but because it is fundamentally in line with the very design and purpose of apartment living. When people buy into strata, they are buying into co-owned common property giving rise to a "communal arrangement". They are agreeing to a shared responsibility for setting the rules regarding the use of the property.

And they are agreeing to a shared management of costs, including if common property such as lifts and carpets and gymnasiums are damaged as a result of short-term tenants. The people who share the inconvenience associated with hosting discount tourists in their building, and the costs associated with managing the repairs, also need to share the ability to regulate whether that tourist operation should be allowed to be there in the first place. Owners' corporations don't want a blanket ban on Airbnb and the other short-term stays – we just think the people who live with it and pay for it should have the right to decide on it, and whether it is allowed. Some buildings will elect to allow short-term stays because of the increased short-term rental potential, and some will not due to the increased inconvenience and costs – but the point is that it is our strata community, so it should be our choice. That is a position that is even borne out in a recent City of Sydney survey into local attitudes to short-term letting, despite the fact that most people who responded were tenants not owners.

On a micro level this is at its core about choice and fairness and, beyond that, it's about good public policy and not allowing houses to be locked away for tourists during a housing affordability crisis, or a disincentive to apartment living during a population boom. Loading The state government's options paper presents an opportunity to make apartment living more affordable and more desirable, and guarantee it as a model to house citizens now, as well as in the future, and I urge people to review it and make a submission. Stephen Goddard is a strata lawyer and spokesperson for the Owners Corporation Network.