Council Approval Queensland

Dayna55
Level 1
Australia

Council Approval Queensland

Hi There

 

I have just had a letter from the body corporate stating that I need council approval for my air bnb which would cost upwards of 8000K

 

If I don't supply them the notice I should cease my listing.

 

Anyone able to shed some light.

 

Many thanks in advance

3 Replies 3
Gillian166
Level 10
Hay Valley, Australia

@Dayna55  yes the GCCC has some strict STR rules, they've been in place for a while. you are the 2nd poster here in a week from the GC so I suspect they are doing a summer crackdown. I was actually going to STR my Hope Island home for dec/jan as a one-off but won't risk it now and obviously I'm not paying that council $8000 for the application fee. (I also factored in excessive a/c use over summer and will do LTR instead)

 

It's a shame they are doing this, we stayed in R/Bay last year when we relocated, 4A, with cat + dog, while we waited for our settlement to go through. No hotel would have catered to our needs so there is a strong need for STR on the GC. the GCCC I think has the highest STR fees in the land (also you pay more for rates), I do hope dear old SA doesn't wake up and get any ideas! 

 

Also, we have an ABBhouse in our estate and our BC has sent them 2 notices and they've ignored us, the BC has no authority until they change the by-laws.  That's little comfort though, cos in our estate the absentee owner has outsourced the management and the carparking and rubbish situation is not good, and they don't care, so I'm sure the neighbours will have dobbed them in, if not now, by January they will for sure. BC can have some snarky types on them, you can probably appease them by writing back and saying you are looking into the situation, thanks for your patience, but I hear there's a hefty fine if you ignore a GCCC Show Cause notice. 

Hi Gillian

 

Thank you very much for your lovely lengthy answer - I really appreciate it.

 

Yes the $8K is now around $9.5k plus the cost of a town planner which is quite a lengthy process.

 

Not an option for us with the high council rates we would also be paying.

 

Its a real shame because we have had such a good year with hotels all being so expensive now for families. Booking a house is so much more affordable.

 

We will have too look at renting full time or selling unfortunately.

 

Great advice re the body corp just to pause them till after Christmas - they want us to cancel bookings immediately if we don't have the council licence. I wont do that because as you say they really have no rights regarding air bnb in community strata areas.

 

Have a lovely Christmas!

@Dayna55  i suspect the mayor might have some "special" relationships with the Hotels Association, to have pushed out such an unfriendly policy! I've never heard of any other council that charges as much for licensing for abb as the GCCC does.