#28347
Millie
Flatchatter

    The issue of STRs has shot across to another threat.

    It is clear that this is a Planning/Zoning matter, as confirmed by JimmyT’s contact in Macquarie Street and as per entries under “1st NCAT case for Airbnb by-laws under SSMA2015′.

    There is now a Flat Chat questionnaire and one is being given ‘a choice’.

    However long ago we were given a choice:  we signed contracts to become homeowners of residential (strata) apartments.  Nearly all of us, concurrently, signed with a financial institution, committing ourselves to a residential/homeowner mortgage.  That’s when were exercised our ‘choice’ and locked ourselves in.

    It is interesting too that in newspaper articles comments are sought from Strata Lawyer/spokesperson for the Owners Corporation Network (OCN).  He wants to see Parliament now give those in strata ‘a choice’ of whether their building should continue to function as a residential strata scheme, i.e. housing, or retrospectively now operate as an unlicensed, unregulated hotel.

    The OCN’s recommendation to Parliament about ‘choice’ and ‘by laws’ makes no mention of the need and considerable/prohibitive cost to upgrade building infrastructure for commercial use.  Nor is there any reference to the Land and Environment Court’s repeated judgements that mixing STRs with permanent residents is “fundamentally incompatible”.  Tellingly, the OCN’s recommendation to Parliament is not that which was arrived at and sent to their Board by their Sub-Committee on short-term rentals.

    The goal set for the OCN’s Sub-Committee was to present a policy “to support the on-going improvement in communal living by confronting the inherent problems of short-lets of residential property.  The goal:  ‘to maintain the distinction between residential use and that of holiday/tourist/visitor accommodation.”  The six-page document concludes with:

    “Actions Required:  OCN should press the following initiatives by the State Government:  1) The State Government in the parliamentary reform process must investigate how councils could be mandated to enforce residential planning, zoning or approval to prevent unauthorised short-term commercial letting of residential properties, and 2) The State Government must ensure that Development Consents are clear, comprehensive and precise as to the manner in which short term letting is dealt with; Development Consents for residential use should also state that no person can advertise or organise the use of the property for short term accommodation.”

    The Chair of the OCN’s Sub-Committee on short-term letting is also on the record stating:

    “(name) is clearly concerned about “where power rests” in a strata scheme despite changes to the Act that limit the number of proxies.  She is right to be concerned.

    Even under the new Act many tried and tested ways of getting and keeping control of a Strata Committee remain live and well in the world of apathetic owners.  I expect we will also see power exercised in new ways as we move to Pre-Meeting Voting.  Indeed it would be naive to think that some owners will not be influenced in the way they submit their electronic votes.

    All this is important in how we find a solution to the Short Term Letting “STL”/Airbnb challenge.

    To call for “Owners to Decide” whether a building allows STL is not a solution.  It poses real risks for any owner who has bought an apartment as their “home” in the reasonable expectation that the Residential Development Consent meant that they could expect to live in a community of Residents.  Why?

    So how would “Let the owners decide” play out?

    It is quite conceivable that commercial interests could secure sufficient power to support an application for a change of building status to short term accommodation.

    That may not only mean a change of surroundings for any remaining “resident owners”, but they could also be faced with being levied for their pro rata share of the costs of any fire upgrades and compliance works required for the building’s new purpose.  Is this fair and equitable?

    The new Act has made it very clear that individual owners facing redevelopment of their homes and termination of their schemes needed special safeguards.  Individual owners in buildings heading down the Short Term Letting path deserve equal protection.”

    As JimmyT is aware, the short-term letting of apartments in the building in which I live made life a ‘living hell’.  Former members of our Strata Committee have spoken to him directly and told him of the seriousness and frequency of threats issued against those who have sought to uphold the Residential Determination of Development Application on the building.  These serious threats – to date, 34 ‘legal’ (plus 3 phone calls from an unknown caller, asking one individual whether or not they hold ‘funeral insurance’) – have come from others who hold enormous legal and legislative power plus far greater financial resources than the recipients of those threats.

    It is incumbent on our legislators to uphold the rights of those seeking safe, secure, affordable housing and to safeguard our Planning and other levels of legislation covering issues such as Building and Construction Codes, Fire & Rescue, Disability Access…to name but a few.  From the looks of it, Parliament hasn’t even considered the many other Acts/legislation covering all forms of lodging.

    Legislation-wise, reckon we better stick with what we have – it’s excellent – rather than poke the hornets’ nest.

    The alternative – to make individuals within a strata scheme (and those who live in residential suburbs) responsible for the actions and behaviour of (often absent) neighbours and off-shore booking platforms – is unrealistic and unfair in the extreme, plus places individuals, at times, in very dangerous and threatening territory, exposing all to financial ruin in the event that an insurer refuses to pay against a major claim.