Regional guide · Redlands
What changes when you sell in the Redlands
Redland City Council is the water and sewerage service provider for the city, so trade waste sits with the same body that assesses your development application.
Every figure on this page is sourced and dated. Where a figure is not published for this region, the page says so. Last updated 15 September 2026.
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What changes when you sell in the Redlands
A Redland trade waste approval does not transfer
Redland City Council is the water and sewerage service provider for the city, so trade waste sits with the same body that assesses your development application. Its published advice is direct: the approval cannot be transferred, and on a change of property ownership or a business lease transfer you have to reapply for a new approval. The application fee is $201.50 for 2026-27, under the Water Supply (Safety and Reliability) Act 2008 (Qld).
Council names the business types that need one: restaurants and cafes, service stations, spray painters, car washes, butchers, commercial laundries, manufacturing, farms, abattoirs, medical services and shopping centres. Property owners, not tenants, carry the obligation to apply and to tell council about changes to the business. So a buyer of a Capalaba spray painter, a Cleveland cafe or a Victoria Point butcher lodges a fresh application, and the landlord is in the chain.
Make it a settlement item rather than an afterthought. The asymmetry is worth holding in your head: a footpath dining approval transfers for $120.00, and a trade waste approval does not transfer at any price.
The food business licence does transfer, and council will inspect before contract
Redland City Council issues food business licences under the Food Act 2006 (Qld) and the Food Regulation 2016 (Qld), and the licence can be transferred to a new owner. Licences run up to three years with an expiry date of 31 October, so check where yours sits in that cycle before you set a settlement date.
The item worth using is the pre-sale inspection. For $713.00 including GST, council will inspect the premises before contract, which surfaces fit out defects while there is still time to price them, rather than after settlement when they become an argument.
Redland City Council food business licence fees, 2026-27
| Item | Fee |
|---|---|
| HE1.6 Transfer of a food business licence | $407.00 plus a pro rata fee |
| HE1.3 Environmental Health pre-sale inspection | $648.18 plus GST, $713.00 |
| New premises application | $775.00 |
| Annual renewal, low risk | $675.00 |
| Annual renewal, medium risk | $810.00 |
| Annual renewal, high risk | $910.00 |
Fees from council’s Register of Fees 2026-27, adopted at the General Meeting of 17 June 2026. A licence transfer plus a pre-sale inspection is about $1,120 in council fees before the pro rata component.
Environmentally relevant activities transfer for $407.00
Council administers environmental authorities for prescribed environmentally relevant activities under the Environmental Protection Act 1994 (Qld) and the Environmental Protection Regulation 2019 (Qld). A prescribed activity authority can be transferred, subject to the new operator being assessed as suitable. Resource activity authorities cannot be transferred.
Fees recorded for 2026-27 are $407.00 to transfer, $970.00 for annual renewal, $2,193.00 for an application or annual return under the transitional programme, $518.00 for a structural variation and $66.00 for an administrative change. With 561 manufacturing businesses in the city and a marine and automotive trade behind them, this reaches spray painting, metal forming, chemical storage, vehicle workshops and boat maintenance. Identify the authority in your own pack rather than waiting for a buyer to find it.
A change of use starts in the eight thousand dollar range
If a buyer intends a different use from the one approved, for example a showroom becoming a food premises, the material change of use application fee alone is substantial before any consultant is engaged. Council’s Register of Fees 2026-27 sets Commercial Category 1, covering office, outdoor sales, garden centre, showroom, hotel and nightclub uses, at $8,069.00 base plus $879 per 100 square metres of gross floor area above 500 square metres.
A service station or shopping centre is $11,895.00 base plus $856 per 100 square metres above 500 square metres. Industrial is $8,069.00 base plus $879 per 500 square metres above 500 square metres. Where your value depends on the buyer using the premises differently, get that priced before you go to market.
The hazard here is storm tide, not river flood
Redland City Plan carries a flood prone, storm tide and drainage constrained land hazard overlay, with specific drainage provisions for the Southern Moreton Bay Islands. Assessment requires modelling of the 50, 10, 5, 2 and 1 per cent annual exceedance probability design flood events, plus storm tide contour plans to Australian Height Datum at 0.25 metre contours, and flood reports certified by a Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland. The overlay mapping is published as open data.
Redland is unusual among Queensland local government areas in that the dominant hazard for commercial property is coastal. Waterfront and marine industry premises, the Raby Bay and Aquatic Paradise canal frontages, Toondah Harbour, Weinam Creek and the island commercial centres are all exposed to it. Council also runs a Coastal Hazard Adaptation Strategy.
The overlay feeds insurance premiums, lease terms, fitout replacement cost and business interruption cover. Pull the mapping for your address before you go to market, so the answer is in your pack rather than in a buyer’s solicitor’s letter.
Canal draft limits cap what a marine business can service
Boat ramp, jetty and mooring approvals for structures in council controlled waters and canal estates are administered by Redland City Council. Vessel draft limits in the council canal estates are 1.9 metres at Raby Bay and 1.5 metres at Aquatic Paradise.
That is a physical ceiling, not a policy one. If your marine business is valued on the class of vessel it can take, the draft limit at your berth is part of the asset, and a buyer will check it.
Named and funded projects in Redland City
| Project | Value | Date and status |
|---|---|---|
| Southern Thornlands Priority Development Area | $544 million of catalyst infrastructure | Declared a PDA 4 April 2025; 890 hectares, approximately 8,000 new homes for around 24,000 residents; $256 million roads and transport, $137 million sewer, $29 million local water supply, $93 million open space and community facilities; proposed Development Scheme notified 3 August to 15 September 2026 |
| Redland Whitewater Centre, Birkdale | Funded within the $7.1 billion Games Venues Infrastructure Program; no project specific figure published | Canoe slalom venue for the Brisbane 2032 Games, confirmed in the 2032 Delivery Plan of March 2025; funding deal announced 3 July 2025 with a $3.435 billion Australian Government contribution to the programme; capacity up to 8,000 spectators using temporary seating; GIICA opened Principal Consultant expressions of interest 12 December 2025, closing 21 January 2026 |
| Redland Hospital expansion, Cleveland | More than $300 million | Stage 1 $77.9 million including a new intensive care unit and 37 additional inpatient beds, building commenced October 2023; the 28 bed Lagoon Ward opened December 2023 and the 24 bed Amity Ward opened June 2025 |
| Redland Hospital mental health facility | $150 million | Committed 29 May 2023; adds 20 beds to take capacity to 43 and frees land for the Stage 2 expansion; construction expected to start 2025 and complete late 2027 |
| Capalaba Town Centre Revitalisation Project | $250 million | A 1.55 hectare council owned site behind Capalaba Central on Noeleen Street, delivered by Redland Investment Corporation with Shayher Group under a 2022 development agreement; development approval June 2024, infrastructure agreement finalised July 2024; library, customer service centre, community hall, an entertainment and restaurant precinct, retail, commercial and mixed use residential |
| Cleveland-Redland Bay Road upgrade programme | $110 million, Queensland Government funded | Anita Street to Magnolia Parade duplication $84.31 million, construction started May 2023; intersection improvements $12.14 million; Anita Street intersection upgrade $12.69 million with signals operational July 2021; South Street to Boundary Road planning $600,000 |
| Cleveland-Redland Bay Road, Anita Street to Giles Road | $80 million | Dual carriageway plus signalisation of the Double Jump Road intersection, funded under the Queensland Transport and Roads Investment Program 2024-25 to 2027-28; design phase expected complete by late 2026 |
| Southern Moreton Bay Islands ferry terminals | $34.1 million | Department of Transport and Main Roads with Redland City Council, upgrading the Russell, Macleay, Lamb and Karragarra terminals; the Russell Island terminal opened June 2023 |
| Weinam Creek Priority Development Area, Redland Bay | $15 million from the Queensland Government | Announced 22 March 2024 toward a planned multi level car park at the ferry terminal; a new boat ramp and temporary car park have been constructed |
| Shoreline, Redland Bay | Private, Lendlease Communities; value not published | Preliminary approval under section 242 of the Sustainable Planning Act 2009 granted 18 November 2015; approximately 10,000 new residents, two district sports parks, a community facility, a signalised intersection at Heinemann Road and Double Jump Road, a wastewater treatment plant for 13,500 equivalent persons and marine facilities |
| Minjerribah Futures, North Stradbroke Island | $39.4 million approved at 30 April 2024 | Began as the North Stradbroke Island Economic Transition Strategy, finalised September 2016 with 23 projects and a $20 million commitment, rebranded in 2019; $33.2 million for projects led by the Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation and $6.1 million for other projects; the Queensland Government reports 23 of 25 projects complete with one ongoing |
| Island infrastructure, 2025-26 council budget | $6.95 million | A community youth centre on Macleay Island, footpath expansion on Russell Island, the Amity Point swimming enclosure renewal, Kennedy Drive drainage and Weinam Creek PDA infrastructure |
| Toondah Harbour Priority Development Area, Cleveland | Development value not determined | Declared a PDA 21 June 2013 at council’s request; 67 hectares, 17.5 hectares of land and 49.5 hectares of water; Development Scheme commenced 29 May 2014; the Commonwealth Environment Minister announced a proposed decision to refuse on 9 April 2024 and the application was withdrawn; Walker Group withdrew from the project entirely on 24 April 2026 and council has said it will work with the Queensland Government, the majority landowner, on next steps |
Values and dates as published by the Queensland Government, the Australian Government, the Department of Transport and Main Roads, Economic Development Queensland, the Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority, Redland City Council and the developers, at the dates shown. A capital value for the Redland Whitewater Centre as a separate line item has not been published, so none is stated. What any of these projects does to the value of an individual business is not something this page will guess at.
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