How ingenious Aussie couple came up with the perfect solution to beat the housing crisis - but now council wants to kick them out over red tape

By ASHLEY NICKEL, NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA Published: 09:50, 27 July 2026 | Updated: 09:57, 27 July 2026 A family is fighting with its council to remain in their affordable home amid a rental crisis, but an outdated regulation could see them evicted. Holly Patterson and her husband, Charles, pay $200 a week to live in a surprisingly comfortable 'tiny home' situated on a 207-acre country property near Toowoomba, in southeast Queensland. The 7.2m by 2.4m home has the illusion of being much larger thanks to clever design and lots of well-placed windows, but it is on wheels, meaning it is classified as a caravan or trailer rather than a stationary house. Toowoomba Regional Council, like many other councils around Australia, does not allow people to live in caravans on private property for more than 60 days. The council recently became aware of Ms Patterson's home, which featured on a social media show in May, and ordered her to move or submit a dwelling application. Ms Patterson's landlord will be the one to face fines if the couple don't comply, Yahoo News reported.  A council spokesperson said it enforces strict regulations 'to ensure reasonable standards of health, safety and amenity are maintained'. Ms Patterson, 37, and her partner moved to Toowoomba from the Blue Mountains to live alongside her mother, who lives in one of two established homes on the property. Holly (left) and Charles Patterson (right) live in a tiny home in Toowoomba The couple pay $200 a week for their tiny home (above) but have been instructed by council to move their dwelling Ms Patterson's sister, her partner and their children live in the other permanent home. The group came together to support Ms Patterson's mother after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. The Real Estate Institute of Queensland earlier this year found the state's rental vacancy rate was below one per cent, making rental properties very hard to find. 'It's really a crazy time to be living in this region,' Ms Patterson said.  The couple also considered the financial strain of buying a home at a time they were hoping to work less to support Ms Patterson's mother.  'We didn't want to sign our lives away to an $800,000 or a million-dollar house or get ourselves in that much debt to purchase the property,' she said.  'We've realised that you really don't need much to live really well.' A petition was presented to the Queensland government in 2023 calling for tiny homes on wheels - as well as caravans and converted buses - to be reclassified as permanent dwellings. Tiny homes on wheels, like the Pattersons' (interior above), are classified as caravans It received almost 5,400 signatures, with many signees noting the reclassification would only add more homes to a market struggling to keep up with demand.  Another current petition calling for the same thing has more than 1,800 signatures.  Toowoomba Regional Council itself is expected to consider a report on the regulation of tiny homes in August.