Noosa council looking to Mornington Peninsula for short stay accommodation rules

A Sunshine Coast tourist hotspot is considering hiring security firms to help manage problematic holiday homes.

Holiday crowds pack in at Noosa Main Beach. Picture: Lachie Millard

Noosa Council is looking to a Melbourne tourist hotspot for inspiration as it considers how to crack down on problematic holiday homes.

It is on track to become the first Queensland council to introduce local laws for short stay accommodation in response to ongoing complaints of party homes.

At Tuesday’s planning and environment committee meeting councillor Amelia Lorentson said Noosa should introduce similar measures to Mornington Peninsula.

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The Victorian local council employs a security firm to monitor problem short-stay rentals during weekends.

“For somewhere that’s comparative to Noosa I think what they have is good practice,” Ms Lorentson said.

“We don’t have to reinvent the wheel, we should adopt any practices that work.”

The security firms would monitor holiday homes and units and gather data to help council enforce fines or other penalties such as removing short stay accommodation approvals.

They would only monitor problematic homes – with councillors estimating there were about 20 in the area.

Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula has 8.2 million visitors annually and in 2018 was the first Australian local council to adopt short stay local laws.

It requires operators to register their homes or units, pay an annual fee and follow a code of conduct.

The laws outline heavy fines and banning or removing approvals are also possible for delinquent owners.

Noosa Mayor Clare Stewart said “torment” was a good way to describe how people affected by noisy short term accommodation homes felt.

“We keep saying the local laws are coming … this is our time to walk the walk,” she said.

“Putting this back out to community consultation is critical.”

Councillors on Thursday night voted in favour of releasing the proposed amended local law for public comment.

Originally published as Noosa council looking to Mornington Peninsula for short stay accommodation rules