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

From a land-use planning perspective, it was never envisaged that a residential dwelling would be
used in such a way that the primary use of the premises is more consistent with an event venue
rather than as residential accommodation 13. To date the use of premises for parties (party houses)
by short-term rental properties has not been assessable development.

Changes to the suite of planning legislation in 2014 has enabled Council to include a provision in the
new Noosa Planning Scheme to define a ‘party house’. This declares that a ‘party house’ is impact
and inconsistent development and also puts in place a ‘party house restriction area’ across the Shire
through the planning scheme confirming that any residential dwelling within that area does not have
the right to operate as a party house.

Once the New Noosa Plan is in place, Council will be able to take action towards specific party
houses, using information obtained through specific complaints and other sources to identify
offending properties.

8.4.3    Planning requirements for Short-Term Holiday Rentals
Council’s new planning scheme will clearly define short term accommodation and identify locations
where short term rentals will be permitted, ensuring that there are options and mechanism to assess
and regulate this planning change in the future.

Council’s new planning scheme proposes to adopt two distinct land use definitions of “dwelling
house” and “short-term accommodation” from the Planning Regulation 2017. These uses are not
interchangeable and it would require a Material Change of Use to change from one to the other.
Property owners seeking to short term rent properties in areas where the use is not accepted will be
required to obtain planning approval through a material change of use development application.

8.4.4    Capping Accommodation Bookings and Availability
Throughout Australia and internally, governments and councils are establishing rules and
parameters allowing a maximum amount of short term accommodation booking days per year for a
property. However, it is becoming apparent that this approach as a mechanism to reduce the
incidence of short term holiday renting is ineffective, as it is currently relatively easy for hosts to
remove an online listing and then create a new one on the same site or even another site.

Further, as online sites currently do not state how many days are booked, hosts can state that a
property wasn’t available, when it was actually booked and only visually looks like it is unavailable.

An alternate and more effective approach may be to allow hosts a maximum number of days of
availability for a property, as this can then be tracked independently across a number of online sites.
There could be further differentiation for short term renting where the property owner remains at the
property (i.e. single room rentals).

Monitoring would still be required to ensure compliance, as a host could potentially argue that a
property is only listed as available for the maximum allowable time, whilst the other periods of non-
availability are actually booked periods.

8.4.5    Local Laws
Other more traditional short-term accommodation providers such as hotels and motels are subject
to regulatory and legislative standards and obligations in relation to aspects such as fire safety, pool
safety and accessibility for disabled visitors. As the utilisation of online booking platform proliferates,
it has become apparent that the existing regulatory and legislative framework is not keeping pace
with the short term holiday online accommodation phenomenon. It is reasonable that an appropriate
framework of standard and regulation should apply to properties being operated for commercial gain.



Short Term Accommodation - Online Platform Response Issues Paper                                   Page 35