A Supreme Court judge in Jamaica is now calling for Airbnbs to be regulated!

Justice Maxine Jackson is the judge who oversaw the landmark College Green case a few months ago.

She had ruled in favour of College Green residents who sued their neighbour for running an Airbnb in their gated community, which goes against their restrictive covenant.

Well the written judgment is now out, and Justice Jackson says it’s time to seriously consider setting up guidelines for Jamaica’s short-term rental industry.

In her ruling, the judge said that since short-term rentals have become so popular, there needs to be some regulation.

In the College Green case, the neighbours were complaining about continuous “nuisance” disturbances from the guests, who were apparently very disruptive. 

Justice Jackson noted security logs which showed over 50 people and several vehicles between July 1, 2021 and May 6, 2022 as evidence that the property was being used for short-term rentals.

But Justice Jackson is saying that with regulation, disputes like this might not have to end up in court. 

According to the Tourism Ministry, Airbnbs brought in over US$100 million last year.  About 30% of the 3 million stopover visitors who came to the island in 2022, used Airbnb.

With a massive industry like that, which will likely keep growing, more disputes will pop up.  And without any laws or guidelines, more cases will end up in court, which nobody wants. 

We do know that Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett has said regulation is something the government is considering but now with this additional call, maybe that will speed things up… 

And that’s the bottom line.