LGA submission on Short Stay Accommodation Register
Short stay accommodation (SSA) has become an established and growing part of South Australia’s accommodation landscape, delivering significant tourism, economic and visitor benefits across metropolitan, regional and coastal communities.
However, the rapid growth of SSA has also highlighted the need for greater transparency and a clearer understanding of its scale, distribution and operation.
Our position
The proposed mandatory Short Stay Accommodation Register is an opportunity to establish a reliable evidence base, improve visibility of the sector, and support more informed decision-making by governments, communities and industry.
LGA broadly supports the intent of the Short Stay Accommodation Register – Discussion Paper and recognises the value of a statewide registration framework.
However, we do not support councils being responsible for registration and renewal responsibilities, as is currently proposed in the paper.
LGA has lodged a submission with the State Government, detailing our position:
- Registration: LGA supports a mandatory, publicly accessible online register that allows operators to manage their own registrations and renewals, reducing the administrative burden on everyone involved. This approach is similar to systems used in NSW and WA. Councils should have access to register information relevant to their statutory functions.
- Council responsibilities: LGA does not support making councils responsible for registering and renewing short-stay accommodation properties. The industries consulted share this view.
- Land use category: LGA supports creating a separate land use category for short-stay accommodation, as current definitions do not always clearly identify these properties. However, this must not create additional planning or compliance burdens for councils, and the planning system, including the Planning and Design Code, must be updated if needed.
- Code of Conduct: LGA supports introducing a Code of Conduct to set consistent standards, clarify responsibilities and address common community concerns.
- Enforcement: LGA supports strong and effective enforcement, with clear responsibilities backed by legislation. However, LGA does not support making councils responsible for enforcing the Code of Conduct in areas outside their usual role, such as managing guest behaviour and anti-social conduct. Councils must not be burdened with compliance and enforcement functions without accompanying resources and legislative authority.
- Fees: LGA supports allowing councils to set annual registration fees within a range set by the Minister. This would work similarly to Dogs and Cats Online and help councils, particularly in regional areas, recover the growing costs of compliance and enforcement.
- Research: LGA supports further research and monitoring of housing and tourism impacts to inform future policy decisions.
Our submission also outlines 11 recommendations for the State Government to consider when developing the Short Stay Accommodation Register.
Background
Councils directly informed LGA’s latest submission by completing a survey that was circulated to the local government sector in September.
Earlier, LGA also provided input to the Parliamentary Select Committee’s Inquiry on the Short Stay Accommodation Sector, which identified the absence of a reliable, central database of active SSA properties and recommended the establishment of a state-wide register.
Find out more
For more information regarding LGA’s submissions on Short Stay Accommodation, contact LGA Policy Officer Kruthika at Kruthika@lga.sa.gov.au