Pro town planners seem to be using information supplied to them by the enforcement team rather than actually reading the town plan.  The Enforcement team in BCC have been making up their own definitions and town plan and then going out and trying to enforce it.  A series of enforcement notices went sent out to unsuspecting landlords based on these made up definitions, these were subsequently challenged and won in a number of tribunals and courts.  The AAD case refered to was to determine if you could lease to 12 people in one house, they lost because the current maximum in the town plan is upto 5 unrelated people.  Also as any person who is suitably qualified will tell you the decision in a court case is only relevant to that case, it does not have any effect on changing the town plan for other unrelated cases which have completely different situations.  What the Council enforcement team has tried to do is create its own interpertaion of the case and create a new set of laws from it to which only they know what they are.  These new laws aren't written anywhere and if you ask them they wont send you a copy.  Also the lawful use of a property cannot be changed retrospectively, the lawful use never changes once the property is completed – refer to the Sustainable Planning Act Qld Section 628 (2a).  In their new law a house can only be occupied by a family or something similar, however what the town plan actually says is than upto 5 unrelated persons can occupy a house lawfully.  There is no limit on who they are, how they lease, what they eat or what rooms they occupy.    https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/LEGISLTN/CURRENT/S/SustPlanA09.pdf

The enforcement notices Pro town planners refered to here are now being canceled by council as it was council who has acted outside the law when issuing them.  The best advice i can give is beware of advice posted on the internet.  While there are some people within council who have a political agenda to try to stop renting houses out to groups other than families this does not make it the law.  The irony of these cases is that the Lord Mayor Graham Quirk was in china 2 weeks ago promoting Chinese university students to come to Brisbane and live in Share Houses, he was doing this with The PAD student housing agents who only have tenants who lease individually and share houses.  If this use is unlawful why would the Lord Mayor promote it.  The problem is the council is a large organisation and does not always talk to itself.  I would not do business with Pro Town Planner as they seem to be a puppet of the councils enforcement team and troll for work  by spreading their propaganda.

http://www.thepad.com.au/news/asia-pacific-cities-summit

There has also been some suggestion that the new town plan will also stop the ability of people to share houses by having their own leases.  Given the current wording this will be the case if the new city plan is passed un amended.  however every industry body and political group are lobbying for this to be changed.  The main reason is that Houses that are shared are the back bone of Affordable Housing.  Without houses that can be shared by unrelated individuals we would have a housing crisis of epic proportions, and the city councils know this.  Which is why every other city council in the state is currently updating the town plans to promote more of this type of use, except Brisbane City Council for some reason the people in power there seem heel bent on reducing the supply of affordable housing.  That is what this is all really about, the council has been out trying to implement its new policies early before they have been passed.  i would suggest if you have properties you would like to rent this way or have an interest in preserving the current status quo talk to your local councilor or politician because these laws face the possibility of being changed if they are allowed to have their way.