2019-02-12 Attachment 1 to Item 7 - Short Term Accom Online Platform Issues Paper

5.1.1    Regulation of Short-Term Rental Accommodation
Council’s current Planning Scheme defines Visitor Accommodation as accommodation that is
designed and used for visitors to the shire and where social, recreational and dining services may
be provided for visitors by owners or staff. Resident guests stay for a temporary period of time
(typically not exceeding 3 consecutive months).

Whilst the current Planning Scheme does distinguish between visitor zones and residential zones
by detailing requirements and provisions for small scale Visitor Accommodation such as B&B, guest
house, host farm or cabin park, the current planning scheme was developed prior to the modern
phenomenon of online booking platforms such as Airbnb and the trending disruption to traditional
methods of visitor accommodation in the Noosa region. This disruption poses a challenge to ensure
appropriate land use and residential liveability in the shire. The new Planning Scheme (The New
Noosa Plan) is will be clear in how it regulates and will reflect the current landscape that includes
both short-term accommodation and visitor accommodation.


5.1.2    Planning Scheme Cycles
Typically, land use planning works in 5 or 10 year cycles, as local governments elect to adjust and
update their planning schemes to cater for changing societal, economic and emerging markets and
to guide appropriate future land use. The acceleration in development and consumption of
technological applications and platforms in recent years has created change and disruption that are
challenging for local governments to address and to ensure that planning schemes contemplate and
protect future land uses in a highly changing environment.


5.2      Existing Lawful Use Rights
As local laws and local government planning schemes continue to change and update, they do not
have retrospective powers. This concept is substantiated by the presence of “existing use rights”,
included at section 260 of the Planning Act 2016.

Section 260 explains the existing lawful use provision, stating that if a use of premises was a lawful
use of premises immediately before a planning instrument change, the change does not:
   Stop the use from continuing, or
   Further regulate the use, or
   Require the use to be changed.

A property or owner with an existing lawful use can seek to evoke the rules and allowances that were
in force at the time they established a lawful use, even if they are now superseded, protecting an
established and lawful use allowed within a superseded instrument.


5.3      Lack of data and transparency
To date, Airbnb and Stayz have repeatedly refused to supply property addresses to regulatory
authorities, claiming that to do so would be a breach of privacy. Their business model relies on the
outsourcing of risk, which can lead to their clients avoiding tax obligations, in addition to planning
and safety regulations.




Short Term Accommodation - Online Platform Response Issues Paper                              Page 18