Short Stay RulesNational ranking
Australia's strictest short-stay jurisdictions, ranked with a published rubric
Strictness is not one thing. A 60-night cap, a $5,000 permit fee and a 7.5% levy each hurt in a different way, so we score jurisdictions on all of them and publish the arithmetic. The result is that the places hosts fear are not always the places that actually cost them the most, and a few quiet councils outrank the famous ones.
Last verified 2026-07-25 against official sources. The score is computed from our own published data by the rubric below, not by opinion. Every figure below links to where it comes from.
Every ranking like this on the internet is somebody's opinion dressed as data. This one is computed from the same verified records we publish on every jurisdiction page, using the rubric set out below, and it recalculates itself whenever a rule changes. If you disagree with the weighting, you can see exactly which weighting you disagree with, which is more than the alternatives offer.
The ranking
| # | Jurisdiction | State | Score | How the score is made up | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Byron Shire | NSW | 8 | Status: Heavily restricted +4Hard cap of 60 nights +3Mandatory registration or permit +1 | 2026-08-27 |
| 2 | Western Australia | WA | 8 | Status: Restricted +2Approval needed beyond 90 nights +2Mandatory registration or permit +1Planning or development approval can be required +1Levy or short-stay tax +1Enforceable code of conduct +1 | 2026-07-24 |
| 3 | Greater Sydney (Sydney Metro) | NSW | 7 | Status: Restricted +2Hard cap of 180 nights +2Mandatory registration or permit +1Planning or development approval can be required +1Enforceable code of conduct +1 | 2026-07-24 |
| 4 | Muswellbrook Shire Council | NSW | 7 | Status: Restricted +2Hard cap of 180 nights +2Mandatory registration or permit +1Planning or development approval can be required +1Enforceable code of conduct +1 | 2026-07-24 |
| 5 | New South Wales | NSW | 7 | Status: Restricted +2Hard cap of 180 nights +2Mandatory registration or permit +1Planning or development approval can be required +1Enforceable code of conduct +1 | 2026-07-24 |
| 6 | Ballina Shire Council | NSW | 6 | Status: Restricted +2Hard cap of 180 nights +2Mandatory registration or permit +1Enforceable code of conduct +1 | 2026-07-24 |
| 7 | Blue Mountains City Council | NSW | 6 | Status: Restricted +2Hard cap of 180 nights +2Mandatory registration or permit +1Planning or development approval can be required +1 | 2026-07-24 |
| 8 | Clarence Valley Council | NSW | 6 | Status: Restricted +2Hard cap of 180 nights +2Mandatory registration or permit +1Planning or development approval can be required +1 | 2026-07-24 |
| 9 | Noosa Shire Council | QLD | 6 | Status: Restricted +2Exempt only under 60 nights +1Mandatory registration or permit +1Planning or development approval can be required +1Enforceable code of conduct +1 | 2026-07-24 |
| 10 | Perth Metropolitan Area | WA | 6 | Status: Restricted +2Approval needed beyond 90 nights +2Mandatory registration or permit +1Planning or development approval can be required +1 | 2026-08-27 |
| 11 | Canberra | ACT | 5 | Status: Restricted +2Planning or development approval can be required +1Levy or short-stay tax +1Enforceable code of conduct +1 | 2026-08-27 |
| 12 | Shoalhaven | NSW | 5 | Status: Restricted +2Mandatory registration or permit +1Planning or development approval can be required +1Enforceable code of conduct +1 | 2026-07-24 |
| 13 | Northern Territory | NT | 5 | Status: Unclear +2Planning or development approval can be required +1Levy or short-stay tax +1Enforceable code of conduct +1 | 2026-07-24 |
| 14 | South Australia | SA | 5 | Status: Unclear +2Planning or development approval can be required +1Levy or short-stay tax +1Enforceable code of conduct +1 | 2026-07-24 |
| 15 | Mornington Peninsula Shire | VIC | 5 | Status: Restricted +2Mandatory registration or permit +1Levy or short-stay tax +1Enforceable code of conduct +1 | 2026-07-24 |
| 16 | Shire of Augusta-Margaret River | WA | 5 | Status: Restricted +2Mandatory registration or permit +1Planning or development approval can be required +1Enforceable code of conduct +1 | 2026-07-24 |
| 17 | Australian Capital Territory | ACT | 4 | Status: Restricted +2Planning or development approval can be required +1Levy or short-stay tax +1 | 2026-08-27 |
| 18 | City of Cessnock (Hunter Valley) | NSW | 4 | Status: Restricted +2Mandatory registration or permit +1Planning or development approval can be required +1 | 2026-07-24 |
| 19 | Douglas Shire Council (Port Douglas) | QLD | 4 | Status: Restricted +2Mandatory registration or permit +1Planning or development approval can be required +1 | 2026-07-24 |
| 20 | Gold Coast (City of Gold Coast) | QLD | 4 | Status: Restricted +2Mandatory registration or permit +1Planning or development approval can be required +1 | 2026-08-27 |
| 21 | Queensland | QLD | 4 | Status: Restricted +2Planning or development approval can be required +1Levy or short-stay tax +1 | 2026-07-24 |
| 22 | Adelaide (City of Adelaide) | SA | 4 | Status: Restricted +2Planning or development approval can be required +1Levy or short-stay tax +1 | 2026-08-13 |
| 23 | City of Hobart | TAS | 4 | Status: Restricted +2Planning or development approval can be required +1Levy or short-stay tax +1 | 2026-07-24 |
| 24 | Tasmania | TAS | 4 | Status: Restricted +2Planning or development approval can be required +1Levy or short-stay tax +1 | 2026-07-24 |
| 25 | City of Melbourne | VIC | 4 | Status: Restricted +2Planning or development approval can be required +1Levy or short-stay tax +1 | 2026-07-24 |
| 26 | Victoria | VIC | 4 | Status: Restricted +2Planning or development approval can be required +1Levy or short-stay tax +1 | 2026-07-24 |
| 27 | City of Busselton | WA | 4 | Status: Restricted +2Mandatory registration or permit +1Planning or development approval can be required +1 | 2026-07-24 |
| 28 | Brisbane (City of Brisbane LGA / Brisbane City Council) | QLD | 3 | Status: Restricted +2Planning or development approval can be required +1 | 2026-08-27 |
| 29 | Cairns Region (Cairns Regional Council) | QLD | 3 | Status: Restricted +2Planning or development approval can be required +1 | 2026-07-24 |
| 30 | Sunshine Coast Council | QLD | 3 | Status: Restricted +2Planning or development approval can be required +1 | 2026-08-27 |
| 31 | Snowy Monaro Regional Council (Jindabyne) | NSW | 1 | Status: Permitted +0Mandatory registration or permit +1 | 2026-07-24 |
The rubric, in full
Rankings like this are usually vibes. This one is arithmetic, and you can recompute it from the same pages we publish.
- Status: not permitted +5, heavily restricted +4, restricted +2, unclear +2, permitted +0.
- Night cap: 90 nights or fewer +3, 91 to 180 nights +2, more than 180 nights +1, no fixed cap +0.
- Mandatory registration or permit +1.
- Planning or development approval can be required +1.
- Levy or short-stay tax +1.
- Enforceable code of conduct +1.
Two deliberate choices worth stating. A jurisdiction is not penalised for having clear rules: clarity is not strictness. And a proposed rule scores nothing until it is in force, which is why places with loud pending reforms can rank lower than places that quietly already did it.
Common questions
Why is a jurisdiction with clear rules not penalised?
Because clarity is not strictness. A council that publishes a plain 90-night threshold and a fee schedule is easier to comply with than one whose rules are ambiguous, even if the headline number is lower. We score the burden the rules impose, not how pleasant they are to read, and ambiguity is scored separately through the 'unclear' status.
Why do proposed rules score nothing?
Because a proposal is not a rule. Tasmania's short-stay levy has passed the House of Assembly but is not law, and Hobart's specific area plan has been exhibited but not approved. Scoring them as though they were in force would tell you to make decisions today about obligations that may never arrive. We track them on the change log instead.
How often does this ranking change?
It rebuilds every time the underlying data changes, which is at least fortnightly. Because the score is derived rather than written, there is no version of this page that can disagree with the jurisdiction pages it is built from.
Related
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Short Stay Rules, "Australia's strictest short-stay jurisdictions, ranked with a published rubric", last verified 25 July 2026. https://shortstayrules.com/compare/strictest-councils/
Reference list
Short Stay Rules. (2026). Australia's strictest short-stay jurisdictions, ranked with a published rubric. Last verified 25 July 2026. https://shortstayrules.com/compare/strictest-councils/
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<a href="https://shortstayrules.com/compare/strictest-councils/">Australia's strictest short-stay jurisdictions, ranked with a published rubric</a>, Short Stay Rules, last verified 25 July 2026
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