During this process I became aware of a strata in our area which had indeed, created bylaws covering this insurance topic and adding an additional one requiring owners to nominate their lot as their principal place of residence in order to STHL it.
I don’t understand this. If the owner is using the lot as their residence, then they can only be listing some rooms but not the whole property for STHL. If they are letting the whole property as STHL but saying they are living there to by-pass by-laws, state laws or insurance rules, then they are providing false information. And none of that will amount to a hill of beans until another resident complains that the property is being let illicitly or, even worse, a substantial insurance claim is made and the insurer turns around and says the scheme misled them on the STHL usage and the whole cover is invalidated.
The Bannerman piece is absolutely clear – if you want your airbnb property to side-step STHL rules, laws or by-laws, you have to live in it while you have guests. Also, have a listen to our other strata legal sponsor David Sachs in our podcast this week where he discusses this subject in depth.