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Thanks Whale. An interesting read.
I think this proposal serves well the financial interests of Real Estate Agents, Property Managers, and those renting their Residential properties as Tourist and Visitor accommodation. One asks: is this not mere ‘window dressing’ to skirt around a breach of the Environmental, Planning & Protection Act plus the shocking array of issues that short-term lettings create?
Alas I fail to see how it affords any protection to those using their Residential property as their residence or those renting their Residential property to a leaseholder who in turn use the property as their permanent residence.
Investors who want to invest in this type of accommodation – short-term lets – should feel free to invest in hotels/serviced apartment/holiday complexes and the like.
The investors involved in the practice of short-term letting DON’T live in the properties so don’t suffer the blight of constant ‘comings and goings’, disturbance, abuse of common property areas, risk to health/safety/life etc that short-term lets in Residential properties create. They are also blind to the fact that their short-term financial gain is the long-term financial loss of everyone, themselves included.
Where I live, ‘peak-season’ is every week of the year. One can monitor daily the short-term ‘occupation rate’ in our building by simply checking the ‘availability’ on websites such as ‘Wotif’, ‘lastminute.com’ – indeed the list of sites where our building is advertised goes on for web page after web page.
From someone who lives in a Residential building where large-scale short-term letting is organised, operated and protected by our ‘Caretaker’ (whose only ‘care’ is what he can ‘take’ from the OC/our building) and our Executive Committee Members – they got rid of all the Resident Owners from our EC by way of vote farming at our last AGM: RESIDENTIAL OCCUPATION AND SHORT-TERM TOURIST/VISITOR LETS ARE NOT COMPATIBLE.
I suggest that the basic criteria you need to adhered to has nothing to do with by-laws etc. You need to go to your local council, who would have issued the Development Approval on your strata complex, and ask them to confirm whether or not the use to which you are putting your unit to is compliant with their DA on the property. It’s is as simple as that.
Don’t entertain ‘negotiating’ with your fellow Lot Owners a way around/through/over this issue. Don’t put everyone through all this stress and expose everyone to possibly endless frustration and angst!
Council has the final word on whether or not what you are doing is compliant with the ‘intended use’ of the premises.
And might I add, what about when ECs/Strata Managers:
a) Don’t make mention of correspondence received in the Minutes of EC Meetings – eg, requests for Motions at AGMs?
b) Publish private information about the contents of one’s apartment, one’s rental history etc, and circulate this in the Minutes, without first seeking permission to do so?
c) Select certain correspondence only and publish this, without the correspondent’s permission, and circulate it in the Minutes to all Lot Owners?
Note: the correspondent has been told by the EC that they would be ‘named and shamed’ within the Strata community.
The joys of strata living!
Waiting to meet a friend in our Foyer today I was asked by someone if I was waiting to ‘check-in’. When I replied that I live in the property my interlocutor introduced himself as a fellow owner, and I in turn introduced myself. I was subsequently abused by the other for ‘causing all the trouble’, as I’m very much on the record for trying to verify whether or not short-term letting is a compliant activity in our building (zoned ‘Permanent Residential Accommodation Only’). As well, the current EC – all active in short-term letting – have told me I’d be “named and shamed” and “hunted down and sued”. (The ‘naming/shaming’ happens every time the Minutes of EC Meetings are distributed and, yes, there’ve been serious attempts at litigation.) In no uncertain terms was I told by the ‘other’ that he has rented his apartment (on my floor) short-term since ‘day one’ and that I’m – to be polite here in this blog – out-of-order. I refrained from describing the problems and constant noise caused by this person’s so-called guests and instead asked him if he was aware of the extent of his/our financial liability due to a non-compliant activity in our property. Again, another mouthful of abuse hurled at me. Hooplah, what a charming (NOT) fellow owner – wish he actually lived here so he could experience life in our Residential property!
Looking forward to replies and suggestions.
Our EC/SM/Caretaker never answer correspondence on questions relating to Insurance/Security/damage to building etc, etc.
The CTTT dismissed a 1,000+ page submission so it seems there’s nowhere really to go except to mount a reverse ‘proxy farming’ operation and try and take over the EC. Easier said than done ‘me thinks’.
Jimmy’s comments about parasites is absolutely ‘on the mark’. Living in a property where approximately 55 or 163 residential lots are leased short-term is unpleasant and expensive in the extreme.
Councils don’t have the funds or staff to actively ‘police’ the situation – it’s up to resident owners to complain to Council and work with them in order to erradicate the blight from a building.
The bottom line is that short-term letting in a building zoned Residential is Non Compliant. Your building insurance is almost definitely compromised and you have unlimited liability. This could mean: losing your home, all the monies in your bank account, your superannuation funds, all your other assents.
Is it worth it?
Get active and start working with your Council and campaigning against this practice now!
Please can someone help: is there any legislation which allows the Executive Committee to ban the recording of their EC Meetings?
With our new Executive Committee the first thing the Chairperson says when opening the meeting is: “all mobile phones and recording equipment must be switched off”. This is also now noted in all EC Minutes.
Allowed or not?
Thanks
Let’s talk about the facts on Short-Term Letting (not simply ‘party flats’):
Living in a block, currently ‘fully booked’ (Wotif and Last Minute etc) thanks to school holidays and a major international Rugby Tour plus others reasons, may I add that those ‘wanting’ short-term letting and Owners Corps/ECs who condone the practise should consider:
As a lot owner of a residential apartment, it is a breach of the Environmental Planning & Assessment Act for Residential apartments to be used other than for the approved use: fines of up to $1.1 million and a daily penalty of up to $11,000 for each day that the breach continues. (www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/epaaa1979389/)
If a lot is leased, the lessor must give notice of the lease to the Owners Corporation within 14 days after the commencement of the Lease. Maximum penalty for breach – $550. (www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/maintop/view/inforce/act+138+1996+cd+0+N/)
Body Corporates are bound by the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Commonwealth legislation). “Alteration of Risk Exclusion: You must promptly advise us…if the nature of the occupation or other circumstances affecting your insured property is changed in such a way as to increase the risk of loss or damage or the likelihood of liability losses.”
Penalty for non-disclosure and non-compliant use: reduce or refuse to pay a claim, or cancel your policy.
When one uses a Residential building for short term letting, this is affecting a Change of Use = ‘refuse to pay a claim’.
Strata Unit owners have UNLIMITED LIABILITY. In the event of a major fire or other event, loss of life, permanent injury etc, if the Insurance Company refuses to pay, not only can lot owners, including resident owners, lose their property/home, but investors renting short-term can lose their investment plus their own homes and personal savings, assets etc.
Is the above not reason enough to comply with the Residential zoning approval on a building?
Every single Strata lot owner needs to know the facts.
PLEASE: It seems that there is great, great ignorance and/or short sightedness on this issue. A major media campaign needs to be mounted, spelling out the facts and life-ruining financial risks involved.
Well done Flat Chat/Jimmy T. Does this also apply to a Caretaker who has commandeered three areas of common property for 15+ years to use as storage areas for his short-term letting business? He has stated that neither he nor his staff have ever had access to the areas – our photos prove otherwise. Might this be defrauding the Owners Corporation? Might we not expect back rent at commercial rates for the use of this property?
Sorry, I didn’t finish: in a block which is zoned ‘permanent residential accommodation only’, if your two ‘girls’ use their apartment as a brothel and your two solicitors rent out their apartment for overnight/weekend footy/cruise/bucks/hens/birthday/schoolies parties, I don’t see any difference. These are commercial uses and are contrary to the use approved, plus a nightmare for residents who just want to enjoy their homes and the community in which they live.
A quick note to an earlier post: If two ‘call girls’ want to live in a block they should have the same rights as two lawyers renting an apartment. If the girls want to turn their residential apartment into a brothel – a commercial use – then Council should/would have something to say about it.
If residential apartment blocks are used for commercial short-term, hotel-style lettings, then all the legitimate hotels/serviced apartment operators should be mightely agrieved – they pay for and have far superior fire/safety systems installed and they pay much, much higher insurance premiums.
The short-term operators in residential properties are running shonky businesses, lot owners’ insurance is VOID and lot owners have UNLIMITED liability. Consider that, and ask: is short-term letting realy worth risking the financial viability of all lot owners?
People wanting to stay short-term for a football, pre-/post-cruise, bucks/hens, 18th/21st/40th/50th birthday et al weekend, or a short business stay, should stay in properties specifically designed for such purposes and with staff available to cater for their needs and control unruly visitors. Is there nowhere where resident owners and tenants can enjoy the communities in which they live?
Here’s a quote from one of the country’s major law firms – ‘bring it on’, I say:
“In the parallel strata reform process, we will continue to investigate how councils could be mandated to enforce residential planning, zoning or approval to prevent unauthorised short-term commercial letting of accommodation. The proliferation of illegal serviced apartments is a huge problem… and there remains insufficient scrutiny of this damaging practice.”
Question:
Is it simply a matter of Executive Committee Members having to disclose their commercial links with the ‘original owner’ of the property before standng for election to the Executive Committee?
Or,
If a Building Manager/Caretaker recruits owners who lease their apartments through him to get the numbers to form a new Executive Committee, and he then writes to all his owners – say 25% of the total – within the Strata and successfully gets them to vote in his Executive Committee, with no disclosure of the commercial links between them, is this permissable?
If the Building Manager’s/EC Members’ actions aren’t OK, what action can one take?
Thanks
Jimmy, Do you have a crystal ball, or do you read minds, or hack into computers? We have a LAWYER on our EC and the word ‘sue’ is thrown about repeatedly. So boring, to say the least.
Perfect! And thank you. This is fantastic news.