Before operating a Rooming House/Shared Accommodation you will be required to meet a number of regulatory requirements associated with Council and Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV).
The rooming house operators licensing scheme, established under the Rooming House Operators Act 2016, came into effect on 26 April 2017. Rooming house operators must apply for, and be granted, a licence through CAV before they can start operating a rooming house. Further information can be found on the
View the Consumer Affairs Victoria
Getting approval from Council
A number of legal requirements associated with establishing a rooming house are controlled by Council. You may need to obtain approval from our Planning, Building and Community Health teams, as detailed in the following table.
Who do I need to contact at Council?
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Number of Proposed Occupants
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Planning
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Building
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Community
Health
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Building/rooming house will accommodate less than 4 persons
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N/A
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Y
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N/A
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Building/rooming house will accommodate 4 or more persons with 10 or less habitable rooms
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N/A*
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Y
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Y
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Building/rooming house will accommodate 4 or more persons with 11 or more habitable rooms
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Y
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Y
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Y
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N/A = No Approval Required
Y = Approval may be required, contact relevant service area
* Planning may need to be consulted depending on the planning zone
To contact Building Services please phone 9298 4327. For more information on planning, please visit the
Community health requirements
In order to register your rooming house, you will be asked to submit detailed plans of the accommodation, which clearly indicate elements such as the number of bedrooms, the size of each room and number of bathrooms. An Environmental Health Officer will contact you after they have assessed your application.
New Rooming House Premises pre-application
Pre-application forms for new Prescribed Accommodation Premises
To discuss your application in more detail, including associated fees, please contact the Community Health team on 1300 88 22 33 or email maroondah@maroondah.vic.gov.au
Ongoing requirements
Once your premise is registered it will:
- be inspected annually to ensure the accommodation complies with the Public Health and Wellbeing (Prescribed Accommodation) Regulations 2009
- renewed annually on 1 January each year.
Failure to register a rooming house
Under the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 failure of a natural person to register prescribed accommodation with their municipal Council may result in a fine of 4 penalty units. Failure of a body corporate to register prescribed accommodation with a municipal council may result in a fine of 10 penalty units.
Further information
For further information on rooming houses, please contact Council Council's Community Health team on 1300 88 22 33.