Is it legal to use Airbnb in Brisbane?

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Here's the truth: Airbnb is absolutely legal in Brisbane! This city boasts one of the most impressive domestic and international visits in Australia, with an estimated 7.3 million visitors every year. Furthermore, Brisbane continuously attracts more tourists who book hotels in order to see The Australia Zoo, Great Barrier Reef, Daintree Forest, and other tourist sites.

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Here's some evidence! Airbnb alone has 43,432 nights available in Brisbane as of July 2022. Lee And Dianne has 92 listings, while Airtrip and Craig have 46 and 38 listings, respectively.

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How much money can I make as an Airbnb host in Brisbane?

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In Brisbane, there are currently 2,304 Airbnb listings, with 49% of complete houses earning up to A$3,407 a month. Brisbane's average occupancy rate is 62%, and the average daily fee is A$122. A 2-bedroom apartment in Brisbane may earn up to A$84,392 per year, according to short-term rental property data company Airbtics.

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What Are Brisbane's Short-Term Rental Accommodation Policies?

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Before you may host STRs in your Brisbane property, you must first obtain a Short Term Rental Permit from the city government.

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Hosts must own the property they wish to rent out as a STR.

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The home designated for STR rental should be your permanent residence, which means you should live there at least 275 days each year.

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A single-family home, neither a multi-family home/apartment or an additional dwelling unit/granny unit/secondary housing unit, should be rented as a STR.

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Unhosted "whole home" rentals are not authorized; the host must be present on the property during the rental time.

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After your application has been accepted for processing, you must pay an application fee of $323.

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Is Brisbane a Good Place to Invest?

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If you're concerned about investing thousands of dollars to buy a home, the good news is that you don't have to! Rental arbitrage is preferred by property investors and hosts in Australia because it does not necessitate the ownership of a property. According to Brisbane statistics data, the rental population in this region is 46.49%, with a consistent rental yield of 5.21%.

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You'll be able to confirm if Brisbane is a good spot to invest by using an accurate short-term rental calculator! It is critical to understand your expected yearly revenue and high-return investment opportunities in Brisbane - and with Airbtics, this should be a simple chore!

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Is Brisbane an Airbnb-friendly city?

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Overall, Brisbane is more welcoming than the Gold Coast for beginning your own bed and breakfast using a site such as Airbnb, VRBO, Stayz, or booking.com.

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In contrast to the Gold Coast, where the appropriate pages and Council's online information appear rather unclear, Brisbane City Council gets right to the point.

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Curious to see how much you could earn on Airbnb? Schedule a free, no-strings-attached consultation with our Airbnb Management Brisbane team to uncover your property’s revenue potential.

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Is municipal clearance required to open your own bed and breakfast in Brisbane?

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So, if you reside in Brisbane, do you need municipal permission to host your own Airbnb?

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The quick answer is that it depends on what you intend to do.

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Unlike the Gold Coast, where the appropriate pages and web material appear to be rather convoluted, the BCC goes right to the point.

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You have two alternatives if you wish to open an Airbnb in Brisbane.

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In general, if you want to welcome visitors on the property where you reside, you don't require clearance if you follow the home-based business criteria, which provide a pretty reasonable compromise.

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But, if you are an investor and do not live at the property, you must obtain full council approval through a major change of use development application.

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Of course, there may be other circumstances that require you to obtain planning permission, even if you reside on the property, so we'll explain how to verify if you may establish your own Airbnb in Brisbane below.

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How to Determine If Your Bed and Breakfast Need Brisbane City Council Approval?

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First, double-check your zoning. See the Brisbane City Council City Plan Interactive Map, then use the options menu on the right to apply the zoning overlay and determine what zoning your property comes under.

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Brisbane zoning and home-based business information.

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Recommended Zoning Types for Brisbane Short-Term Rental Accommodation

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The Brisbane City Council's 2014 Plan promotes home-based enterprises to locate in the following areas:

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• Residential areas
• Zones in the center
• Zone of mixed usage
• Township area
• Zone of environmental management
• Zone of conservation
• Rural area
• Residential area in the countryside
• Zone of emerging community.
• If your property is in one of the aforementioned zones and you live on it, you can run a home-based business from it and are not required by your property's zoning to submit a development application.

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Additionally, the Brisbane City Council has developed this extremely useful online tool that allows you to answer questions to determine whether you can operate a home-based business from your current address.

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Use the Brisbane Home-based business: Self Assessable Checklist to determine whether you need to file an application and obtain Council approval before opening your Airbnb.

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If your property fits the recognised development standards for a bed and breakfast operating as a home-based business and so does not require Council approval, you do not need to obtain written permission to operate your own Airbnb in Brisbane

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What are the prerequisites for running an Airbnb from home in Brisbane?

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Section 9.3.10.1 of the Brisbane City Council Home-based Enterprise Code states:

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"Bed and breakfast is the commercial use of a dwelling to provide short-term accommodation to tourists and visitors." The resident host operates and maintains the bed and breakfast facilities, and breakfast is generally supplied to guests. A bed & breakfast does not provide short-term or rooming lodging."

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We will go over the areas of the Home-based Business Code that are relevant to running your own bed and breakfast from home.

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“PO1. In terms of size and purpose, development is a minor component of the principal use of the dwelling as a permanent residence."

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The bed and breakfast may be located anywhere on the land and does not have to be within the main house. It may be located within a suitable external construction such as a shed, granny flat, or elsewhere on the property.

A typical dwelling house may only have one non-resident employee on the premises at any given time, but a dual-key or multiple dwelling house may have no non-resident employee on the premises.

The business must be run by one of the property's permanent residents, who can live in a separate housing such as a granny flat or the main house.

Bed & breakfasts and farm stays are exempt from the 50m2 total space requirement.

Nothing is permitted to be stored outside.

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“PO2. The development guarantees that the hours of operation for the home-based business are controlled so that it does not negatively effect the amenity of a neighboring sensitive use."

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In Brisbane, there are no time constraints for bed & breakfasts. However, to avoid disturbing your neighbors, we encourage sticking to the usual check in and check out timings.

Neighbors that are happy are good neighbors! Check-in time should be no later than 5 p.m., and check-out time should be no sooner than 9 a.m.

We believe that automatic check-in is the most convenient option for everyone concerned, especially with smart locks and access credentials.

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"The nature and magnitude of PO3 development do not result in excessive noise emissions that fulfill required limits."

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Your bed and breakfast visitors have no restrictions on where they can be, so they can use the entire property and are not required to stay inside.

Monday through Saturday, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Your bed and breakfast shall not make audible noise or cause a nuisance in the area designated as a sensitive use zone, i.e. A residential area, apartment complex, or neighborhood.

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“PO4. The development places no more strain on the utilities that serve the property than a reasonable residential use would."

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Power cannot be used in excess of the total connected load of 2.0KW.

Does not consume more than 3L of water per square meter of land each day. This limit should be readily met by your B&B.

If your property is not served by municipal water or sewerage, your bed and breakfast must not exceed the capabilities of your current setup to handle sewerage, grey water, and clean water.

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“PO5. Development:

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Creates no more automobile and pedestrian traffic than is reasonably expected in the neighboring residential neighborhood;

only uses and has any visits by, vehicle types reasonably expected in the nearby residential area.”

Your bed and breakfast must not raise the volume of local traffic above what is reasonable for the area.

Visitors must only use vehicles that are appropriate for the residential neighborhood in which your bed and breakfast is located.

Your guests are welcome to wait on or near the premises, but no more than one employee may do so at any given time.

At any time, a bed & breakfast may have more than one guest vehicle parked on the grounds, but no more than one employee vehicle.

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“PO6. Development must not jeopardize the safety of the community and its citizens."

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The code makes no mention of persons and instead talks to the storage of dangerous products, which is irrelevant to a bed and breakfast run as a home company.

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“PO9. "Bed & breakfast or farm stay development provides adequate levels of seclusion and amenities for residents in adjoining or surrounding houses."

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At any given moment, no more than 6 guests may remain on your home.

The total number of individuals on the property, including residents, cannot be more than ten.

Meals must be served only to overnight visitors.

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“PO10. The development assures that paying guests are accommodated for a short-term stay, and the housing is not the guest's usual domicile."

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Regrettably, bed & breakfast visitors can only stay for 14 days.

With the rising popularity of long-term stays, this may be inconvenient for certain Hosts. Long-term stays, on the other hand, might have their own set of problems. Visitors frequently demand a long-stay discount, and you must get them to sign a lease and pay a security deposit. You will, however, need to clean less frequently - at least once every two weeks.

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Conclusion

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In general, paying attention to the Airbnb laws and regulations in Brisbane will make your Airbnb business function more smoothly! Aside from being a source of passive income for many hosts, launching an Airbnb business is also a fun opportunity to meet new people from all over the world. Use Airbtics right away to make the best investment decisions!

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