We’re taking moment before our Forum questions this week to urge you not to miss the opportunity to get a cut-price, off-the-peg by-law to prevent Airbnb and other short-term holiday letting coming into your building.
Be aware, the way things are shaping up, apartment blocks in NSW that don’t have holiday let bans in place could end up worse off than those in Victoria, where more than one-third of units in some blocks are listed as holiday lets.
There are already workshops and seminars out there where owners and even tenants are being advised on how to set up multiple holiday rentals, and get around the new laws.
And you can bet some of them are being advised on how to get into blocks that don’t have the necessary by-laws in place before the shutters come down.
Now there’s no need for your committee to spend ages weighing up the cost of a by-law. All you have to do is join the Owners Corporation network (for a measly $55), if you haven’t already done so. Then you can buy their off-the-peg by-law, written by an expert strata lawyer, for only about $200.
Similar by-laws could cost you $1000 or more from some law firms, and not having one could see your block turned into a de facto hotel when the the full impact (or lack of any) of the new holiday letting laws come into force.
Go to OCN.org.au for more details
Meanwhile, here’s a selection of new questions from the Flat Chat Forum – and they’re all about renovations.
- What do you do when your committee agrees to a lighting upgrade in common areas, gets the job half done and then everything stops while they try to decide what style of lights to install. That’s HERE.
- If one owner wants to install an awning, should you create a by-law just for them and then another for the next person, and then another … or create one by-law to cover everyone? That’s HERE.
- My tenants might want me to install air-con sometime in the future. Should I try to get permission in advance from next week’s AGM by bringing it up under “other business”? That’s HERE.
- A renovator has removed their common property ceiling, the building manager gave it his OK and the strata committee chair has decreed that a ceiling is the same as a non-load-bearing wall. Is there any art of this that doesn’t sound suss? That’s HERE.
You can ask your questions on the Forum by registering and logging in HERE – and it’s all free
