Planning to Airbnb your QLD property? It is not as easy as you think…

In this blog/video we discuss the TRAPS you might not know about if you want to rent your QLD property out on Airbnb!

Hi everybody – George Sourris, Empire Legal.

Today’s topic: Planning to Airbnb your QLD property? It is not as easy as you think…

Do you need council approval to Airbnb in Queensland?

Planning to Airbnb your Queensland property? It’s not as easy as you think. If you own a property in Queensland and are thinking about renting it for short term stays, there are several important factors to consider regarding council approval. So, before getting into the specifics, it’s crucial to understand that most residential properties in Queensland are intended for long term use by a single household.

When you start renting out rooms or the entire property for short term stays, you’re altering the property’s “use”, which may require approval from local council depending on the zoning and rules of the area.  All right, so it’s home business vs short term accommodation.

Is your Airbnb a home business or short term accommodation?

A key point in the approval process is whether you live on the property you’re renting out for a short term stay. If you’re staying on the property and renting out a room, this falls under the category of a home business, similar to running a bed and breakfast.

However, if you’re renting out the entire property and you’re not living there, it’s more likely to be classified as short term accommodation, which typically requires a specific development approval from Council. This distinction is crucial as it determines the specific rules you must follow and the necessary approvals you need to obtain.

How do you get council approval for short stay letting?

Obtaining approval from the council for short term rentals involves a few key steps and a private town planner can assist you throughout this process. There are four parts to explore here:

Step 1: Assessment

The first step is to conduct an assessment of the property and your intended use. This will help determine whether your property is in a residential zone that permits short term accommodation or if you need to apply for a development permit. This is where consulting a town planner can be particularly helpful.

Step 2: Development application

If your property requires  a development permit, you must submit a development application to the local council. This process can be complex, so it’s often necessary to involve a town planner. The Council will evaluate your proposal based on the planning scheme and other applicable guidelines.

Step 3: Public notification

Depending upon the Council’s requirements, your application might need to go  through a public notification process. This generally involves informing nearby residents and inviting feedback or objections. Again, a Town Planner can guide you through this step.

Step 4: Building approval

In many cases, you’ll also need approval from a building certifier to ensure the property complies with safety and regulatory standards. This might involve making modifications like installing fire alarms and exit signage.

If you need a town planner, guys, we have a contact. Send us a DM or an email and we can obviously put you in touch.

What does council approval actually cost?

So, this can vary from council to council. But typically, you want to budget around $10,000 at least, because the development application fee alone can be anywhere between $5,000 – $9,000, depending on the council. Then, town planning fees – you have to hire a professional, that’s going to cost.  Also consider building approval costs; depending upon the scope of modifications required, you might have to budget some money for that. Finally,  insurance.  Your premium might go up and possibly getting public liability coverage.

Okay, so navigating the council approval process for short term accom in Queensland can be complicated but again, you need a town planner to make sure you’re following the correct procedures and meeting local regulations. While the costs can be significant, the reward of running a legally compliant short term rental that’s on Airbnb or something similar is well worth the investment – the return can be significantly higher than a long term tenancy; which we often find is the case, especially in touristy areas like the Gold Coast.

Note: costs and requirements may differ depending on your specific council and property circumstances, so make sure you consult professionals to get tailored advice before you commit.

What does Gold Coast City Council require?

Let’s quickly talk about the Gold Coast City Council in particular. So, new property owners planning to rent out their property for short term stays, like Airbnb, must seek approval from the Gold Coast City Council for a Material Change of Use development application.

This cost is around $8,000-$9,000 for the application with no guarantee of success. So, this applies even if you only plan to rent your property out for a few weeks a year. Short term accommodation is a separately defined land use. Under Schedule 24 of the Planning Regulation 2017, reproduced in the City Plan at SC1.1, it means using premises to provide accommodation of less than three consecutive months to tourists or travellers. The City Plan treats a dwelling house and short term accommodation as different uses, which is why letting your house out on that basis can amount to a material change of use.

How hard that approval is to get depends on your zone. Short term accommodation is code assessable in the high density residential, centre, mixed use and major tourism zones. It is impact assessable in the medium density residential zone, and it is not listed at all in the low density residential zone, which drops it into the catch-all for any use not listed and makes it impact assessable there too. It is never accepted development in a residential zone.

Whether a particular arrangement actually crosses from residential use into short term accommodation is a question of fact and degree, so get advice on your specific property rather than assuming.

Here’s the catch – each time you switch between using the property as a primary residence or a short term accommodation, you must submit a new Material Change of Use application.  A bit ridiculous, right? You’re not going to spend $8,000-$9,000 every time you want to switch it from short term to non-short term.

What happens if you get caught without approval?

But anyway, that’s the current laws. So in essence, you need to choose whether the property will be used for short term letting your home. You cannot legally do both. Additionally, Council treats these uses differently when calculating rates for the property. Rates are considerably higher for properties designated for short term accommodation.  Alright, now if you fail to obtain the necessary Material Change of Use application, the council may deem the use of your property unlawful, potentially leading to a Show Cause notice. Failure to comply could result in severe consequences, including fines of up to $600,000 for individuals and over $3 million for companies.

The council can also issue on the spot fines exceeding $1,500 per day for non-compliance. Operating a short term rental without the proper approval is risky and could lead to significant financial penalties.

Can your body corporate stop you letting on Airbnb?

This is the question we get asked most, and the honest answer is that it is not settled law.

Section 180(3) of the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 says that if a lot may lawfully be used for residential purposes, the by-laws cannot restrict the type of residential use. Section 180(4) says a by-law cannot prevent an owner leasing their lot. On that reading, a scheme cannot ban short stay letting. That is how QCAT saw it in Body Corporate for Hilton Park CTS 27490 v Robertson [2018] QCATA 168, where a by-law imposing a six month minimum tenancy was held invalid.

But in Redman v The Proprietors – Fairway Island GTP 107328 [2020] QDC 68 the District Court upheld a by-law prohibiting rentals of less than one month. The catch is that Fairway Island sits under the Building Units and Group Titles Act 1980, which has no equivalent of section 180(3). Since Redman, some Queensland strata firms have been drafting sub-one-month letting bans for ordinary BCCM schemes. No appellate decision has tested that either way.

The practical point: read the by-laws before you buy, and do not assume a by-law is invalid just because you have read online that a body corporate cannot ban Airbnb. A recorded by-law applies unless and until an adjudicator strikes it down.

Will short stay letting cost you your land tax exemption?

It can, and this is the cost almost nobody models before they list.

If you do not live in the property, the home exemption in section 36 of the Land Tax Act 2010 does not apply at all. Whole-of-home short stay letting is not a partial exemption question. It is no exemption.

If you do live there and let a room, section 40 gives you a narrow safe harbour. Measured at midnight on 30 June, the let area must be no more than 50% of the total residential floor area, the occupant must not have sub-let, and the rent must not exceed market rent. One allowable letting, or two if one of them is a family letting.

Step outside that and section 39 applies. One of the factors the Commissioner must weigh is whether gross income from income-producing activity on the land exceeded $30,000 in the preceding financial year. For an individual the land tax threshold is $600,000. Buy in a company or a trust and it drops to $350,000, with an entry rate of 1.7 cents in the dollar instead of 1 cent.

How does Airbnb affect capital gains tax on your home?

Letting your home short term puts part of your main residence exemption at risk, and the mechanism catches people out.

Under section 118-192 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, if you first use your home to produce income and you would otherwise have had a full exemption, you are treated as having acquired the dwelling at its market value on the day income production started. The ATO’s own worked example: a home bought for $450,000, worth $650,000 when first rented, sold for $696,000, produces a gain of $46,000 rather than $246,000. Sometimes that helps you. Sometimes it does not.

If you keep living there and let a room, you do not get the six year absence rule. That rule requires you to have moved out. Hosted letting is an apportionment case, based on floor area used to produce income and adjusted for the proportion of days.

GST is the one piece of good news. A house or a single unit let short term is input taxed residential premises, so there is no GST on the takings and no input tax credits either.

How much more will your council rates be?

Materially more, and both councils treat your listing as the evidence.

Brisbane City Council’s 2026-27 rating resolution puts short stay properties in category 23, Transitory Accommodation, at 0.4901 cents in the dollar with a minimum of $2,434.96. Owner occupied residential, category 1, is 0.2134 cents with a minimum of $949.64. Land use code 76 is not permitted in any residential or mixed use category, so there is no quiet way back into a cheaper bracket.

City of Gold Coast is harsher again. Category 3A, a single unit dwelling rented to itinerants, is 0.813533 cents in the dollar with a minimum of $4,844.40. The equivalent dwelling that is not rented out, category 1A, is 0.230644 cents with a minimum of $1,358.90. Roughly three and a half times.

Both councils define the rating trigger by reference to stays of fewer than 42 consecutive days, and both state in writing that a public listing or advertisement is evidence the property is being used that way.

Do not confuse the two numbers. The 42 days is a rating and local law concept. The planning threshold, the one that decides whether you need a development approval, is the three consecutive months in the Planning Regulation. A property can sit inside the higher rating category without that by itself settling the planning question, and vice versa.

Is Brisbane introducing short stay accommodation permits?

No, and this is where most of the advice still sitting online is out of date.

Brisbane City Council consulted on a proposed Short Stay Accommodation Local Law 2025. On 12 May 2026 Council confirmed it is not proceeding, on the basis that now was not the right time to add further regulation. Council will work with the platforms on problem hosts and keep enforcing the existing local laws instead.

Queensland has no statewide short stay registration scheme or levy either. The 2023 state review recommended a central register, but nothing has been legislated. Victoria has a 7.5% short stay levy running and Tasmania tabled a levy bill in April 2026, so the direction of travel elsewhere is obvious.

What that means for you is unchanged. The pressure points in Queensland are the planning approval, the rating category, land tax and the body corporate. Not a permit.

The short version: you cannot just buy a property and put it on Airbnb. In most Queensland council areas short stay accommodation is a different use from a dwelling house, and that means a material change of use approval. Skipping it is the mistake that costs people, because enforcement usually arrives through a neighbour complaint rather than an inspection, and by then you have income to explain.

Before you buy a property to let short stay, check four things in this order: the planning approval your council requires in that zone, the body corporate by-laws if it is in a scheme, the rating category the council will move you to, and your land tax position. Any one of them can turn a good yield into a bad one, and all four are knowable before you sign. Talk to Empire Legal before you buy, or watch the short version.

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Ladies and gentlemen, please keep in mind that all advice is general in nature and does not constitute legal advice. This is authorised by George Sourris, Empire Legal, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

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