One issue in all this – a clue to the puzzle that’s missing – is the actual wording of the by-law that was overturned.
If the by-law just said “we don’t allow short-term letting” then that is a straight-forward case of interfering with “dealing”.
If the by-law said something like, “we require all residents to abide by our residential-only zoning which does not allow short-term letting” then that is another matter entirely. Or it should be.
Strata laws already state that you have to abide by the law and that includes zoning. My building in Sydney, for instance, has zoning that is very specific about the minimum period for lets (three months).
This is basis on which people bought into the building but, now that hipsters at City of Sydney have decided this law is no longer cool, it seems there may be no way of protecting our properties from rampant opportunism.
As far as Queensland in concerned, the laws there were evolved to encourage investment in holiday letting in the first place. Strata law there was created to assist developers and investors and not with a view to building communities, something that has been an afterthought (if it’s even been considered).