Local law – Short Stay Letting and Home Hosted Accommodation
Consultation has closed and the Local Law adopted by Council.
New Local Law commenced 1 February 2022 – Short stay letting and home hosted accommodation.
Visit Council's website to find all the details about the new local law.
On 21 October 2021, Noosa Council adopted a new local law for short stay letting and home hosted accommodation. The new local law will commence on 1 February 2022.
The new local law will regulate the ongoing operation of short stay letting and home hosted accommodation and manage the impacts on permanent residents and guest safety
Background
The new local law for short stay letting and home hosted accommodation will regulate the ongoing operation of short stay letting and home hosted accommodation and manage the impacts on permanent residents and guest safety. The new local law has undergone extensive legal review and public, stakeholder and State government consultation over a 2 year period.
A draft version of the local law was made available for public consultation from 9 April until 28 May 2021 for an extended 7 week period. This was the second round of public consultation, with the first drafts consulted on in 2019.
615 written submissions were received during the consultation period. A number of minor amendments to the publicly consulted version of the local law have been made in response to submissions and a range of other actions and procedural changes outside the scope of the local law framework will be undertaken.
In particular, Council will establish a 24/7 Council complaints hotline and complaints register as an intermediary between the complainant and contact person and will use security services to observe and record activity at properties where required, initially on a 12 month trial basis.
To view the Planning & Environment Committee Report and Minutes please go to Important Links in right hand column.
Phases
Local law open for comment
A new local law Council has proposed to manage short-stay letting and home-hosted accommodation in Noosa Shire will be open for public comment from April 9.
Residents are asked to have a say on a proposed new local law to manage short-stay letting and home-hosted accommodation in Noosa Shire.
Mayor Clare Stewart said the new local law was back on the agenda after the state government deferred its plans for a state-wide framework to manage short-stay letting.
“The state has other priorities in the wake of COVID-19 but the impacts of short-stay letting on residential amenity continue to be an issue for some in our community, so we’re pressing on with the introduction of the new local law to deal with it at a local level,” the Mayor said.
Cr Stewart said the Short-Stay Letting Local Law would give Council a framework - above what the new planning scheme provided - to ensure property owners managed their properties and dealt with complaints.
Under the local law, owners must appoint a contact person whose contact details must be listed on the front of the property. The contact person must be contactable 24-hours and respond to all complaints within 30 minutes.
“The contact person will be responsible for informing guests of the code of conduct,” the Mayor said.
Under the local law, the contact person must keep a register of all complaints.
“The draft local law has been reworked since an initial consultation by the previous council in 2019, to reflect community and stakeholder feedback, legal advice, the new planning scheme and state government input.”
The Mayor said the introduction of the proposed local law would answer hundreds of submissions Council received about short-stay letting as part of the Noosa Plan consultation and consultation on the first draft of the local law back in 2019.
“Once implemented, the local law will help Council to manage the impacts of short-stay let properties on residents.”
The community is encouraged to have a say on the proposed local law from, April 9, by visiting Council’s YourSay Noosa website.
The consultation will run for five weeks.