Key Facts:
- ATO's new draft ruling classifies holiday homes as leisure facilities, potentially limiting tax deductions unless genuinely income-producing
- Local councils, including Brisbane, are implementing new permit systems and restrictions for short-stay rentals
- The traditional single-ownership model of holiday homes is becoming less viable due to tightening regulations and high costs
- Co-ownership platforms like Copay are emerging as alternatives, allowing 4-8 owners to share costs and management of holiday properties
- Rising property prices in coastal areas, combined with reduced tax benefits, are accelerating the shift towards shared ownership models
Many of the 250,000 (approx) Australian holiday homes are losing key tax benefits and facing tougher council rules, and a Brisbane‑based proptech founder says that is pushing owners and buyers towards smarter, shared ownership models.
The ATO's draft ruling on holiday homes means many properties mainly used for private breaks are now treated as "leisure facilities", so interest, rates, insurance and repair costs may not be deductible unless the home is genuinely run to produce income. At the same time, councils including Brisbane are moving to new permit systems and sanctions for non‑compliant short‑stay rentals in suburban streets.
Brisbane tech founders Himanshu & Mo, whose Copay platform finds like-minded families, handles all the legal work and manages the property, says the old solo-ownership model is under pressure.
"The classic Aussie dream was to buy a whole beach house, claim a heap of deductions and maybe Airbnb it when you weren't there," Mr Arora says. "Now the tax rules are tightening, the councils are cracking down and families are realising they're carrying 100 per cent of the risk for something they use a few weeks a year."
"What we're seeing instead is people wanting to own the part they actually use," he says. "Four to eight like‑minded owners share the same house. They split the costs, they share a AI enabled Copay's Booking system and a professional manager keeps it all running."
Arora says this co‑ownership approach lines up better with what the ATO and councils are trying to achieve.
"The tax office is rightly targeting sham rentals where a place is empty in peak weeks, overpriced so nobody books it, or only ever used by mates at a discount," Mr Mo says. "When a property is set up from day one with clear rules and proper records, it's a very different story."
"For councils, the issue is unmanaged party houses hollowing out local neighbourhoods," he says. "Co‑owned homes are usually used by the same families year after year, with professional cleaning and standards, so they behave more like holiday homes than wild short‑stays."
He believes rising prices in coastal hotspots such as the Sunshine Coast and Byron Bay will only speed up the shift.
"Most families can't stretch to a $2 million beach house on their own, especially if they can't rely on big tax write‑offs anymore," Mr Arora says. "Shared ownership lets them step into that level of property for a fraction of the cost, while tech platform Copay does the heavy lifting in the background."
About us:
Copay is an Australian proptech platform based in Brisbane that helps small groups of households co‑own premium lifestyle properties - starting with holiday homes in key Queensland and New South Wales destinations. Copay focuses on "lifestyle portfolios" rather than speculative trading: buyers acquire stakes in specific homes, enjoy fair‑share usage each year and have clear, documented options for exiting when circumstances change.
