Noosa Council waiving fees for secondary dwellings

A Queensland council has made a big move to try to tackle the ongoing housing crisis, and hopes to see more builds go up in the near future.

Kurui Cabin near Cooroy in the Noosa hinterland, Queensland.

Building a granny flat in the Noosa Shire is set to become cheaper as Noosa Council introduces incentives to encourage more small affordable housing options.

Council will waive the previously hefty infrastructure charges for secondary dwellings that has long stifled homeowners in more rural parts of the shire, such as Doonan or Cooroy, from building and renting our granny flats on their larger blocks of land.

“Secondary dwellings, or granny flats, are a sustainable way to provide more homes and we hope by removing the infrastructure charges, which are typically several thousand dollars per application, will see more people build them and offer them for rent,” Mayor Frank Wilkie said.

Lauren D’Arsie lives in the Noosa Hinterland and built a detached dwelling on the family block.

“This incentive would have great for us building our cabin and would have streamlined the process significantly,” she said.

“It’s a great incentive for people thinking about adding extra space for family members or young adults moving out to go ahead and build.”

Council will also waive development application fees for not-for-profit community housing providers building entirely affordable rental housing.

Private developers can also apply for waived fees for any long term affordable rental premises within new developments.

Director of Development and Regulation, Richard MacGillivray said this applies to all new secondary dwellings and comes into effect on 1 July 2025.

Kurui Cabin near Cooroy in the Noosa hinterland, Queensland.

The new secondary dwelling would be unable to be used for short-term accommodation and development approvals for short-term accommodation will still be subject to Infrastructure Charges.

Five development applications have been lodged with Noosa Council so far this week, all for short stay letting.

“We realise that building affordable rental premises needs to stack up financially given the cost of land and construction, so these incentives will help,” Cr Wilkie said.

Council said it had ratified these financial incentives as part of actions taken in response to the growing housing crisis.

“In November 2022 we adopted the Noosa Housing Strategy committing Council to a range of actions to help tackle the local housing crisis and many of these have already been delivered,” the Mayor said.

Council is working with community housing provider Coast2Bay to provide affordable housing on a Council site in Cooroy, plus investigating other Council-owned sites in Tewantin and Noosa Heads.

“Boosting supply of smaller, more affordable properties for key workers, older people and small households is a key intent of our proposed planning scheme amendments, which are currently before the Minister awaiting approval.”