The Short-Term Rental Crackdown: New Rules in WA, NSW, VIC and QLD for 2026
The Airbnb-era promise — that any apartment could be turned into a short-term rental on the open market — has run into the reality of how strata buildings actually work. Apartments designed for residents are not designed for a rotating cast of weekend guests with luggage at midnight, parties in shared spaces, and the steady wear-and-tear of commercial-scale visitor traffic. By 2026, every state government has moved to restrict, register, or limit short-term rental activity, and the regulatory framework has begun to converge on a common pattern.
This article walks through the rules in each of the four states with the most developed frameworks — Western Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland — explains what owners corporations can and cannot do, addresses the practical pain points that drive most short-term rental disputes, and sets out the steps committees should be taking in 2026.
Western Australia: Registration Commenced January 2026
Western Australia's Short-Term Rental Accommodation Act 2024 commenced its registration scheme on 1 January 2026, making WA the latest state to introduce mandatory registration for short-term rental properties.
The scheme requires every short-term rental property in WA — whether owner-occupied or non-resident-owned, whether let through Airbnb or any other platform — to be registered with the state regulator. Registration involves disclosure of the property's address, the operator's identity, the property's strata or planning status, and compliance with a checklist of safety and amenity requirements.
The scheme applies to short-term rentals defined as accommodation for fewer than 90 consecutive days. Properties registered as short-term rentals must display the registration number in their listings on Airbnb, Stayz, and other platforms. Operating an unregistered short-term rental attracts substantial penalties.
The scheme also empowers strata schemes to make by-laws restricting short-term rental activity in their buildings. The by-laws must be properly drafted to comply with the Strata Titles Act 1985 and must address legitimate building-management concerns, but the legal basis for restriction is now clearly established.
For WA committees, the immediate agenda is reviewing whether the building has any short-term rental activity, ensuring registered operators in the building are complying with the scheme, and considering whether to introduce by-laws restricting future activity.
New South Wales: The 180-Day Cap
New South Wales has the most mature short-term rental framework in Australia, having introduced its registration scheme and 180-day cap in 2021 and refined it through several amendments since.
The scheme distinguishes between hosted and non-hosted short-term rental activity. Hosted activity — where the host is present in the property during the let — is unrestricted in most circumstances. Non-hosted activity — where the entire property is let with no host present — is subject to a 180-day annual cap in Greater Sydney and certain regional areas. The cap is administered through the property's registration on the NSW Government's Short-Term Rental Accommodation Register.
Owners corporations in NSW have a specific power, granted by the Strata Schemes Management Amendment (Short-term Rental Accommodation) Act 2018, to make by-laws prohibiting short-term rental activity in lots that are not the host's principal place of residence. This power was the subject of significant debate during its introduction but has now been confirmed by NCAT and used by hundreds of NSW strata schemes.
The Act's mechanics are straightforward. A by-law prohibiting non-resident short-term rental activity can be passed by a special resolution at a general meeting (75% support), and once registered, applies to all lots in the scheme. Lots occupied by the owner as their principal place of residence are exempt from the prohibition. Lots that are owner-investor properties used for short-term rental activity are bound.
Enforcement proceeds through the standard by-law breach mechanism — notice of breach, application to NCAT for a penalty order — with penalties of up to $1,100 for a first breach and $5,500 for non-compliance with a Tribunal order.
Victoria: Tighter Rules Under Consideration
Victoria's framework currently sits between the WA and NSW positions. The state's Short Stay Levy Act 2024 introduced a 7.5% levy on short-term rental bookings from January 2025, generating revenue that funds social housing and providing a measurable financial disincentive to short-term rental activity.
Owners corporations in Victoria have power under the Owners Corporations Act 2006 to make rules regulating short-term rental activity, although the power is more constrained than the equivalent NSW power and the rules must be drafted carefully to avoid being struck down at VCAT.
The expert panel review of the OC Act, delivered in December 2025, recommended further strengthening of OC powers in this area, and the Victorian Government has signalled that legislative reform is expected during 2026. The likely direction is closer alignment with the NSW model — a registration scheme, possibly a cap, and clearer OC authority to restrict activity in particular buildings.
For Victorian committees, the practical agenda is to review existing rules, ensure they are enforceable, and prepare for the likely 2026 reforms.
Queensland: A Lighter Framework, Tightening
Queensland's framework is the most permissive of the four major states. The Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 allows by-laws regulating short-term rental activity, but the body corporate's by-law-making power has historically been read narrowly by QCAT, and broad short-term rental prohibitions have been struck down where the by-law was found to be overly restrictive of an owner's use of their lot.
The May 2024 BCCM amendments, with further reforms still being implemented, expanded the body corporate's powers in several areas — including smoking by-laws and pet rules — and the trajectory in Queensland is toward greater capacity for body corporates to regulate building-level issues.
For now, the practical position in Queensland is that body corporates can pass by-laws addressing specific aspects of short-term rental activity (such as registration with the body corporate, restrictions on key handover, and parking allocation) but blanket prohibitions remain legally vulnerable.
The Queensland Government has not announced a state-level registration scheme equivalent to NSW or WA, but the regulatory direction is clear and further reform is likely.
What Owners Corporations Can Realistically Do
Across the four major states, the practical options for owners corporations addressing short-term rental concerns fall into four categories.
Prohibition. A by-law prohibiting non-resident short-term rental activity. Available in NSW with the strongest legal foundation. Available in WA with the new 2024 framework. More legally constrained in Victoria and Queensland but increasingly defensible as the regulatory environment tightens.
Registration with the OC. A by-law requiring any owner conducting short-term rental activity in their lot to register with the OC, providing the operator's contact details, the property's registration number with the state regulator, and a contact for any building issues that arise. This is broadly defensible in all jurisdictions and provides the OC with the information it needs to manage building-level issues.
Operational requirements. By-laws addressing the practical issues that short-term rental activity creates — registration of guests for security purposes, key handover protocols, restrictions on parties, restrictions on the use of common amenities, requirements for cleaning and waste disposal. These do not prohibit the activity but address its impact.
Cost recovery. By-laws or service charges that allocate the additional costs of short-term rental activity (additional cleaning, additional security, additional wear on common areas) to the lots that generate them. Legally complex to draft but increasingly used in larger schemes.
The right combination depends on the building, the existing level of short-term rental activity, and the legal framework in the relevant state.
The Practical Pain Points
The complaints that drive most short-term rental disputes are consistent across buildings.
The first is security. Apartment buildings rely on a stable population of residents who recognise each other and who have a stake in security. A rotating short-term rental population introduces strangers into the building daily, complicates key and access management, and creates entry points for unauthorised visitors. Tenants who hold over after their booking has ended, parties that admit dozens of unknown guests, and the general loss of community awareness are recurring themes.
The second is noise and disruption. Short-term guests are, on average, less concerned about ongoing relationships with neighbours than long-term residents are. Noise complaints, parties, late-night arrivals with luggage, and disputes over the use of common amenities (gym, pool, BBQ) are persistent.
The third is wear on common property. Short-term rentals generate significantly higher traffic in lifts, corridors, lobbies and shared facilities. The cost of maintaining these areas is borne by all owners, but the additional wear is generated by the short-term rental lots specifically.
The fourth is insurance. Some strata insurance policies contain exclusions or loadings for buildings with significant short-term rental activity. Where the insurance position is uncertain, the OC's coverage in the event of a major incident may be at risk.
What Committees Should Be Doing in 2026
The agenda for 2026 is reasonably contained.
Audit the building's current short-term rental activity. Many committees do not know how many lots are operating short-term rentals, on what platforms, with what frequency. A simple online search for the building's address on Airbnb, Stayz and other platforms produces meaningful data. State registration schemes (where they exist) also disclose the relevant operators.
Review the building's by-laws against the legal framework in your state. If the building has by-laws addressing short-term rental activity, are they enforceable under the current framework? If the building does not have by-laws, should it?
Engage with the residents. Owner-occupiers in buildings with short-term rental activity often have strong views. Owner-investors operating short-term rentals also have strong views. The committee that surveys both groups, communicates the legal framework, and proposes a balanced response is more likely to pass appropriate by-laws than the committee that imposes a position without consultation.
Review the building's insurance position. Confirm with the broker whether the building's policy contains any exclusions or loadings related to short-term rental activity, and whether the OC's awareness of short-term rental activity in the building creates any disclosure obligations.
Update operational procedures. Even where short-term rental activity is permitted, the practical management of guest registration, key handover, and common area access can be improved.
How UnitBuddy Helps
UnitBuddy's lot register module captures each lot's use status — owner-occupied, long-term let, short-term let, vacant — and tracks compliance with any building by-laws. The system surfaces patterns of complaints that may indicate problematic short-term rental activity and produces the documentary record required for either by-law enforcement or insurance disclosure.
For committees, the platform converts the often-fragmented question of "what's actually happening in our building" into a clear, current picture that supports informed by-law decisions and consistent enforcement.
Short-term rental activity has matured from a novel use of residential property into a regulated category of activity that every Australian strata building now needs to address. The buildings that get this right in 2026 are those that have a clear position — whether permissive, restrictive, or somewhere in between — and that enforce it consistently within the legal framework available in their state.