Apartment owners have launched a new court case seeking a ruling on whether planning rights dating back more than 50 years allow short-term accommodation.
Robert John Broadhead and Klarissa Joy Broadhead have asked the Planning and Environment Court to declare short-term accommodation at Pisces Noosa, at 7 Peza Court, Noosa Heads, lawful.
The couple owns unit 5 in the six-unit complex and is seeking declarations covering either the entire building or, alternatively, their apartment.
The new proceeding was filed on August 25 after an earlier appeal over a Noosa Shire Council compliance notice was discontinued.
Unlike the earlier matter, the new case seeks a ruling on the underlying planning rights applying to the property.
It centres on controls in place when the three-storey building was developed about 1980.
Court documents state the property was within the Residential B zone under the 1973 Town-Planning Scheme for Part of the Shire of Noosa, which allowed a Class A multiple dwelling without council consent.
The scheme defined a multiple dwelling as land or a building used or intended for flats or home units, without expressly distinguishing between short and long-term accommodation.
Mr and Mrs Broadhead contend those use rights have been preserved through successive planning laws and extend to short-term accommodation.
The dispute follows a lengthy process with council after the couple applied for short-stay letting approval for unit 5 in June 2023.
Three months later, council sought further information, saying the site did not have a development approval allowing it to be used interchangeably for permanent and short-term accommodation.
It requested evidence showing a consistent history of short-stay use before the Noosa Plan 2006 began, including booking records, property management agreements, advertised listings and information from previous owners.
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The Broadheads responded in August 2024 with material supporting their existing-use position, but the application was declared lapsed the following January after the council found its information request had not been satisfactorily answered.
In a later email, the council again sought evidence of a history of short-term accommodation.
Court documents include a 1981 certificate classifying Pisces Noosa as a six-unit multiple dwelling.
Another apartment in the complex provides a further point of interest in the case.
Noosa Shire Council approved short-stay letting for unit 2 in April 2023, stating the property had “existing use rights for short term accommodation” in accordance with the scale and intensity of its historical use.
The material filed by the Broadheads does not establish what evidence council relied on when approving Unit 2, or whether its circumstances were the same as those of unit 5.
The Broadheads have until November 12 to file any further evidence, while council has until November 27.
A hearing date is expected to be set on December 11, with a two-day hearing planned for February 2027.
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