Enforcement & Compliance

What happens if councils catch you without a short term rental approval

The WA government now has exact booking data on every Airbnb, Stayz and Booking.com property in the state. Here is what that means for hosts operating without development approval — and what is at stake if you wait.

The data problem

Councils already know exactly what you are operating

Since January 2025, Airbnb, Stayz, Vrbo and Booking.com are legally required to report booking data to the WA government on a daily basis. The state STRA register receives every booking made on every listing — the address, the dates, how many nights, how much was paid.

This data flows automatically from the platforms. You do not have to submit it. The government collects it directly from Airbnb's systems.

What this means in practice: any council can now pull up a list of every unhosted short-term rental operating in their area, see exactly how many nights each property has been booked in the past 12 months, and cross-reference it against their list of approved development applications. The properties that are operating over 90 nights without a DA stand out immediately.

What the WA government can see about your property right now

Your exact property address — from your registration or platform data
Total nights booked in the past 12 months — updated daily from Airbnb, Stayz and Booking.com
Whether you have a valid development approval on record with your council
Whether you are registered on the STRA register at all
A notification when your bookings hit 80 nights — then again at 90 nights

The penalties

What operating without approval actually costs you

The consequences of getting caught differ by council. Here is what the numbers look like across the areas we cover.

$885

City of Busselton — retrospective penalty

Standard DA fee ($295) plus double as a retrospective penalty for operating before obtaining approval. Published in Busselton's fee schedule.

3×

Shire of Augusta Margaret River — same structure

Triple fee applies for any DA lodged after the property has already commenced operating. The longer you wait, the higher the lodgement cost.

$200,000

City of South Perth — maximum court penalty

Operating without approval is a breach of the Planning and Development Act 2005. Maximum individual penalty is $200,000 plus $25,000 per day the offence continues.

$20,000

Advertising unregistered property

Advertising a property on Airbnb, Stayz or any platform without a valid state registration number — illegal since 1 January 2025. Corporations face up to $100,000.

What happens if you get found

The compliance process — step by step

Enforcement typically starts with a complaint from a neighbour, or a council officer cross-referencing booking data against approved applications. Here is what typically follows.

Council issues a compliance notice

The council writes to you identifying the unauthorised use and requiring you to either cease operating or lodge a development application immediately. This notice is on your property record.

Retrospective application — with penalty fee

You lodge a DA after the fact. In Busselton this means paying the standard $295 fee plus $590 penalty — triple the normal cost. In Margaret River the same structure applies. The application is also more complex because you are operating an existing use.

Council may refuse the retrospective application

This is the part most hosts do not consider. A retrospective application is not automatically approved. If your property has received complaints, if it is in a non-preferred area, or if the council is taking a harder line on STRA in your area — they can refuse it. You lose the income and you lose the fee.

State registration cancelled — then platform delisting

From 2026, properties are required to demonstrate they meet development approval requirements to remain registered on the state STRA register. Without a valid registration, you cannot legally advertise or take bookings on Airbnb, Stayz or Booking.com. The direct trigger for delisting is losing your registration — but a missing DA is what causes the registration to be cancelled. The end result is the same: your listing disappears from every platform simultaneously.

How to avoid all of this

Lodge before anyone asks. A proactive application costs the standard fee, takes the standard time, and puts you in a stronger position with the council. Urban Approval Group handles the full process for $300 plus council charges.

Why refusal matters more than the fine

Getting refused is worse than the penalty fee

Most hosts focus on the fine. The real risk is refusal.

When you lodge a retrospective application, you are asking the council to approve something you have already been doing without permission. In areas where councils are tightening their approach to STRA a retrospective application with a complaint history is a difficult one to get through.

If your application is refused, you cannot operate. You cannot list on Airbnb, Stayz or any other platform. You have lost the income stream entirely, and you have paid the application fee for nothing.

A proactive application — lodged before you have a compliance history — is assessed on its merits. The council looks at your property, your zone, your management plan. They do not have a paper trail of complaints or enforcement action to consider. That is a fundamentally better position to be in.

In Margaret River specifically, if complaints have been received during an approval period, renewal may also be refused. Some approvals are not permanent — they are annual. Getting off on the wrong foot with the council, or having a neighbour complaint on record, follows you into every renewal.

Airbnb, Stayz and other platforms

Platform delisting — what it looks like when it happens

In other Australian states, the enforcement of registration requirements through platform delisting has already played out. In New South Wales, unregistered hosts face platform delisting within 48 hours of a complaint being upheld. The experience is consistent — income drops to zero overnight, and guests with existing bookings need to be rehomed.

WA is on the same trajectory. From 2026, properties are required to demonstrate they meet development approval requirements in order to remain registered on the state STRA register. Without a valid registration, it is illegal to advertise or take bookings on any platform. The mechanism is: missing DA → registration cancelled or suspended → delisted from all platforms. The end result is the same as a direct delistment.

This applies across all platforms simultaneously. A cancelled registration removes you from Airbnb, Stayz, Vrbo and Booking.com at once. Guests with future bookings need to be rehomed. Reviews and listing history may remain on the platform, but the listing cannot take new bookings.

The properties that are approved and registered will see increased occupancy as supply shrinks around them. Every non-compliant property that disappears from the platform shifts demand onto those that remain. Compliance is not just about avoiding fines — it is a competitive advantage in a tightening market.

Get approved before anyone asks

$300 flat fee plus council charges. We handle everything — management plan, application, lodgement and follow-up.

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