South Australia's short-stay register: consultation closes 30 October

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South Australia is under three weeks away from closing its public consultation on a register of short-stay accommodation, and the people who own and manage those properties are divided on how it should work. ABC News reported on Monday 5 October 2026 that early feedback from operators is mixed, and that the industry's national association backs a statewide register while objecting to parts of the approach set out in the government's discussion paper.

The consultation itself is run by Consumer and Business Services, the state's consumer regulator, on YourSAy, the South Australian Government's engagement site. According to that page, it opened at 9.30am on Thursday 17 September 2026 and closes at 5pm on Friday 30 October 2026. The government says there that it is considering a Short Stay Accommodation Register, a supporting Code of Conduct and other related reforms.

For anyone who owns a holiday let in the state, or is weighing one up as an investment, the detail that matters most is still open. Nothing published so far fixes who must register, what it would cost or when it would start. What is on the table is a set of questions, and a deadline to answer them.

Consumer and Business Services, Short Stay Accommodation Register consultation page on YourSAy, opened 17 September 2026.

What the government has put forward

The announcement came in a Consumer and Business Services media release dated 17 September 2026, headed "Short-term rental register to help address rental supply". It says a register of short-term rental accommodation properties is to be established in South Australia, as part of the government's response to the state's rental shortage. The stated concern, repeated on the consultation page, is that properties are being moved out of the long-term rental market and into tourism accommodation.

The release does not describe a finished scheme. It says consultation will determine the final scope of the register and will consider further reforms, among them a Code of Conduct for short-term rental properties intended to reduce effects on neighbours such as noise complaints. It adds that the consultation includes booking platforms, and names Airbnb and Stayz.

The government presents the register as a tool with two uses. According to the release, it would allow the state to support a short-term rental market that meets tourism needs, and it would give the government greater oversight with which to address imbalances in the supply of long-term rentals. The same release places the register alongside the rental reforms South Australia has already made under National Cabinet's "A Better Deal for Renters", which it lists as including a ban on rent bidding, a longer notice period to end a tenancy, extended from 28 to 60 days, and a limit of one rent increase a year.

The proposal is set out in a document titled "Short Stay Accommodation Register Discussion Paper", published on the consultation page. This article relies on the consultation page, the media release and ABC News's account of the paper.

The eight questions on the table

The consultation page lists the subjects on which Consumer and Business Services wants to hear from the public. Counted from that list, there are eight, and together they show how much of the design is undecided.

1. Whether the register should be public.
2. Which properties should be included.
3. Whether there would be unintended consequences.
4. Who should oversee any register.
5. Whether a Code of Conduct is supported, and whether it should be the same for all properties.
6. How short-stay accommodation should be used or managed.
7. Whether transitional provisions are needed.
8. General concerns about the proposed register, or other suggestions within the scope of the discussion paper.

The first two go to the heart of an owner's position. A public register and a register held only by government are different things for a host, and the second question decides whether a given property is caught at all. The fourth, on oversight, is where the state and its councils meet. ABC News reported that the discussion paper suggests councils could apply their own land-use codes and set rates for short-stay properties, which is the part of the paper the industry association opposes.

Submissions can be made through a survey on the consultation page or by email to Consumer and Business Services. The page warns that submissions may be made public and may be subject to freedom of information and other laws, and that anyone who wants a submission kept confidential should say so clearly and give reasons.

Why the state wants a count

The register grew out of a parliamentary inquiry. The consultation page says a Select Committee examined the short-stay accommodation sector in 2025 and found there is no reliable central database of active short-stay properties or of their occupancy rates. Its final report recommended that a register be established. The media release adds that the inquiry was chaired by Greens MLC Robert Simms and looked at how platforms such as Airbnb and Stayz affect housing affordability, neighbourhood amenity and tourism, and whether regulatory oversight is needed.

ABC News covered the committee's report on 17 September 2025. By its account, the committee found that the short-stay sector had played a role in rental affordability problems, but that the size of that role was difficult to determine. Mr Simms told the ABC there was no definitive data because short-stay properties were not registered in any way. "As a first step we want to have a registration scheme," he said in that report.

That gap has not closed. ABC News noted on 5 October 2026 that it is not clear how many short-stay operators exist in South Australia. No figure for the number of properties appears in the government's release or on its consultation page either; the absence of the number is the reason given for the register.

The committee went further than a count. According to the ABC's 2025 report, it recommended a paid registration system, with the state government charging a registration fee or levy as part of any state-based scheme. It also recommended that the government consider incentives, such as land tax reductions or one-off grants, to move vacant properties into long-term rental. Andrea Michaels, whom the ABC named in that report as Minister for Consumer and Business Affairs, said at the time that the government would consider the recommendations. A year later to the day, the consultation opened.

The consultation page records two pressures pulling in different directions. Consumer and Business Services says it has received complaints from individuals and from councils about noise, unauthorised parties and alleged criminal activity linked to short-stay accommodation, and the committee heard concerns about limited rental vacancies. The committee also heard that short-stay accommodation supports tourism and events, and the page ties that to the South Australian Tourism Strategy's goal of lifting visitor expenditure to A$12.8 billion by 2030.

Where operators and the industry stand

ABC News's report of 5 October 2026 sets out the main positions. Some operators it spoke to were worried about security if property locations were published, and some objected to any extra fee on hosts.

The Short Term Accommodation Association Australia, the industry body, supports a statewide register. According to the ABC, it wants the approach reconsidered, warns of unnecessary duplication and opposes councils applying their own land-use codes and setting rates. Its executive director, Keiran Craig-Jones, told the ABC that he wants one state, one register and one consistent registration system. The association also wants the legislation to define clearly what information is collected and why.

On security, the ABC reported the executive director as calling it a legitimate issue to consider, while saying the association was not aware of increases in burglary, squatting or similar offences in jurisdictions that already have registers.

The housing sector's argument is for evidence first. Jackson Hills, chief executive of National Shelter, told the ABC that about 40 or 50 of Australia's hundreds of local government areas face a much bigger short-stay challenge than the rest, and that the country should understand actual short-stay levels before adopting arbitrary policy responses. In the ABC's 2025 report, Alice Clarke, chief executive of Shelter SA, supported a registration system and preferred incentives for owners over charges or levies.

The council question

The sharpest disagreement is over local government, and South Australia has a recent example of why. On 27 February 2026, ABC News reported that the City of Mount Gambier had proposed to reclassify short-stay rentals as commercial rather than residential for council rates, and that elected members voted the proposal down after a community backlash.

The money involved explains the reaction. According to that report, commercial rates in Mount Gambier stood at 270 per cent of residential rates, a ratio due to be cut to 200 per cent over five years. Consultation had run across the New Year period and a majority of responses opposed the commercial designation. The ABC reported that the proposal would have mirrored similar decisions by the Adelaide and Unley councils, so the treatment of a short-stay property for rates already varies from one council area to another.

The same report shows why councils look at the question at all. It put the City of Mount Gambier's rental vacancy rate below one per cent.

Against that background, the suggestion that councils could apply their own land-use codes and set rates, as the ABC describes the discussion paper, would leave an owner's costs and permissions depending on the council area. The industry association's call for a single statewide system is a direct answer to it. Which of the two models the government prefers is not stated in the material it has published; the question of who should oversee any register is one of the eight it is asking.

How South Australia compares

ABC News describes South Australia as set to join New South Wales and Western Australia in creating a registry for short-stay accommodation, and says the inquiry committee pointed to the registration model already used in those two states.

Other jurisdictions have gone down a different road. The ABC's September 2025 report noted that Victoria introduced a short-stay levy from the beginning of 2025, that the Australian Capital Territory passed legislation modelled on it applying from 1 July 2025, and that Tasmania had earlier passed short-stay legislation. South Australia's committee recommended a fee or levy as part of a state scheme; the government's release of 17 September 2026 announces a register and a consultation, and names no charge.

What happens after 30 October

The consultation page describes three stages: open, under review, and a final report documenting outcomes and any recommendations. Once submissions close, Consumer and Business Services says it will compile the feedback to inform government decisions on the criteria and operation of the register, on any Code of Conduct and on any other reforms considered appropriate. Updates are to be published on the same page. No date is given for a decision, for legislation or for a register to begin.

For owners, the practical position on 10 October is simple to state. A register has been announced, its shape has not, and the questions that would decide what it means for a particular property, including whether the property is listed publicly and whether a council could treat it differently from the home next door, are the ones the government is asking the public to answer before the end of the month.

Kooky, from Shaka

Kooky edits Agents Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for real estate professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.

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