Hobart Council Revives Plan to Block Full Home Conversions to Short-Term Rentals

The once-quashed plan to block Hobart property owners from converting their entire home into a short-stay accommodation has been resurrected by the local council.

At its planning committee meeting on Wednesday, the Hobart City Council (HCC) tabled a fresh proposal to restrict the creation of short-stay accommodation in the city.

The tweak to planning rules would block about 20,000 homes from being wholly converted into visitor accommodation, such as Airbnb or Stayz.

Affected homes would be those zoned as general residential, inner residential or low-density residential, which account for about 90 per cent of dwellings in Hobart.

The proposal would only apply to new permit applications and would therefore not impact properties that are already used as short-stay accommodation.

Exemptions would be granted to those who are only looking to turn part of their property, such as a spare room or a granny flat, into visitor accommodation.

People looking to list their home as short-stay accommodation while they go on holiday would also still be allowed to do so.

The draft amendment was endorsed by the committee, meaning it will now be placed on public exhibition for 28 days.

Submissions will then be presented back to the HCC, which will decide whether to send the plan to the Tasmanian Planning Commission (TPC) for final approval.

Latest move in long-running war

The proposal is the latest chapter in a long-running push by Hobart's local government to curb the amount of short-stay accommodation in the city.

The council attempted to impose a similar ban in 2022, but it was ultimately knocked back by the Tasmanian Planning Commission due to it conflicting with existing planning rules.

It has since doubled rates for short-stay properties and increased the fee for an application to turn a property into a short-stay by more than 1,000 per cent.

In the report provided to elected members on Wednesday, council officers said the proposed ban was a response to the "unique and local conditions" in the city.

Data from monitoring platform RentalScape showed there were 840 properties listed as short-stay accommodation within the Hobart LGA in November 2025.

That figure included 166 listings which meet the home share exemption and 17 which were only listed when the resident was on holiday.

A report in support of the amendment was produced by housing researcher Peter Phibbs, who found Hobart had an "unusually high concentration" of short-stays.

He estimated short-stay listings accounted for 8.8 per cent of dwellings in the City of Hobart area in September last year, compared to just 2.2 per cent in the City of Sydney and 4.8 per cent in the City of Melbourne.

Professor Phibbs also analysed hundreds of visitor accommodation permits issued by the council since 2018 and found about half of the approved properties had previously been used as long-term rentals.

He said short-stay accommodation was not the sole cause of Hobart's housing pressures but was "an important contributing factor" to low vacancy rates and rising rents.

A cost-benefit analysis of the proposal, conducted by SGS Economics and Planning, found that implementing the planning tweak would deliver $2.11 for each dollar spent.

Councillors back 'solid' plan

The latest proposal is distinct from the council's previous attempt to limit short-stay accommodation as it involves the creation of a new "specific area plan".

This would begin a fresh planning scheme amendment process, including public consultation before it is sent to the TPC for approval.

Councillor Bill Harvey said council staff had done an "amazing job" in finding a resolution which would work for Hobart.

"I am confident this is the right strategy, the right process, to try and minimise the damage of short-stay accommodation into the future."

Councillor Gemma Kitsos said it represented a "solid, sensible" approach, while deputy lord mayor Zelinda Sherlock described it as "really pragmatic".

One concern was raised by Councillor Ryan Posselt, who supported the proposal but was wary of potential side effects that could emerge.

He was concerned the amendment could "cement" existing short-stay accommodations that already have permits in place.

"Meaning that [residents] who have lost their neighbours to tourists may well have lost their neighbours forever," Cr Posselt said.

Multiple councillors said the council should examine ways to encourage those with existing short-stay permits to return their property to the long-term rental market.

Councillor Louise Elliott, who owned an Airbnb and had previously spoken strongly against imposing restrictions on short-stay, was not present in the meeting.

She is currently serving a two-month ban for code of conduct issues related to social media posts.

The attending councillors voted unanimously in support of the proposal, beginning the process for the consultation period to begin.

Airbnb declined to comment, but the company has previously spoken out against councils imposing restrictions on what people do with their property.

A report published by Oxford Economics in 2025 found Airbnb generated $500 million in economic activity in Tasmania, supporting more than 3,000 jobs.