I’ve been ambivalent on the subject of short-term and holiday lettings, but after the experience of the last two (2) weeks where three (3) additional Units in our Plan have been refurbished and for the first time made available for that type of residency, I’m having second thoughts.
In the case of our Plan that brings the total of short-term / holiday rental Units to only eight (8) of our twenty-seven (27), but the comparatively high daily rental rates invariably leads to cost-sharing of Units by a couple of families and to consequent problems with their additional vehicles and boats being illegally parked, including within traffic corridors in the carpark, the improper use of the security access system (as two families are sharing one Unit), the improper use of communal facilities, overloading of our normally adequate garbage facilities, and general issues of poor behaviour and a total lack of consideration for our permanent residents.
A sufficient number of our Owners have this morning sent me a petition to convene a General Meeting to consider either the making of a Special By-Law to prevent short term / holiday rentals, or to charge the Owners of the eight (8) Units and additional fee to cover the Owners Corporation’s additional costs arising from their residents’ (miss) use of the Common Property.
I advised them to include the “or” option as depending upon how Sect 49(1) of the NSW Strata Schemes Management Act is punctuated by the reader, and whether a short-term “permission to occupy” is the same as a lease under a Residential Tenancy Agreement, their preferred option may be considered a restriction on Owners leasing their properties.
If only the equivalent Sect of the proposed NSW legislation was to omit to word “restrict”! That would in my opinion resolve all the issues discussed in this topic, and yet enable Owners to still lease and derive an income from their Units under the provisions of the NSW Residential Tenancies Act – that is for >3 months and on a Lease.
By the way and whilst I haven’t personally verified it, the petitioners claim that one of their number contacted the Managing Agents and five (5) Owners of the Units involved, with no meaningful responses and with one Agent who manages three (3) of those reportedly claiming no knowledge of the industry’s selectively publicised Code-of-Practice for Short Term Rentals.