Frequently asked questions

A local planning scheme amendment is a change to part of a local planning scheme, in this case, the City's Local Planning Scheme No. 7. 

When a change is made to the scheme it’s known as a scheme amendment, which can be proposed by landowners, the City, or the Western Australian State Government.

This scheme amendment has been developed to align with new regulations in the Planning and Development (Local Planning Schemes) Regulations 2015 (Regulations) for un-hosted Short-Term Rental Accommodation (STRA) in Western Australia. 

These changes introduce ‘Hosted Short-Term Rental Accommodation’ and ‘Unhosted Short-Term Rental Accommodation’ land uses and associated exemptions from the requirement to obtain development approval.

‘Hosted Short-Term Rental Accommodation’ will be exempt from development approval in all instances and ‘Unhosted Short-Term Rental Accommodation’ will be exempt if the property is not rented for more than 90 nights in a 12-month period.

The amendments to the Regulations have now been finalised which include:

• New definitions to be introduced into all local planning schemes which deal with STRA
• Statewide exemptions from development approval for hosted STRA properties
• New development exemptions for unhosted STRA within the Perth metropolitan area where the owner does not intend to rent their property out for more than 90 nights within a 12-month period
• Flexibility for regional local governments (including Peel) to implement planning rules that suit the needs of their communities
• Revised tourism land uses that can be adopted into local planning schemes.

As such, the City has prepared an amendment to LPS 7 and an updated draft Local Planning Policy (LPP) to provide acceptable development standards and guide discretionary decision making in respect to STRA applications.

In response to recent amendments to the Regulations relating to short-term rental accommodation, the City prepared and advertised a new draft Local Planning Policy (LPP)- Unhosted Short Term Rental Accommodation in early December 2024. This draft LPP aligns with the proposed scheme amendment and updated state planning framework and includes the following:

• updates to the terminology and land uses in line with State Government reform
• provides limits on the number of guests
• prescribes information to be included in Management Plans and a Code of Conduct in support of applications, including matters related to house rules, check-in and out procedures, waste management and compliance with strata by-laws where relevant
• Locational requirements. 

Visit https://yoursay.southperth.wa.gov.au/lpp-short-term-accommodation to find out more.