#27724
Jimmy-T
Keymaster
Chat-starter

    That’s an interesting summary but it skips one of the major points that has been overlooked (but could form the core of the the Government’s proposed legislation):  Permitting by-laws to limit, restrict or forbid short-stay letting (Page 17 of the Discussion paper).

    Yes, that is currently prevented by Section 143 which protects owners’ rights. But then, until the government changed the law, you couldn’t get 75 percent of owners ordering the other 25 percent to sell their unit to developers.

    In adopting the “forced sales” law, the government established once and for all that the greater good of a strata community comes before the rights and desires of individual owners.  

    And that, I think, is what will lead to a change in the law allowing a substantial majority of motivated owners to control the use of their units by self-interested individuals for have no regard for the very values of their communities that makes their properties attractive options  to overseas tourists.

    I note your comment that: “The NSW Government recognizes that an owners corporation has a useful role to play for impacts on amenity, strata costs and individual safety.”

    That’s big of them.  So just let me get this straight – we pay for the apartments, then we pay to have them brought up to scratch when the developer has wandered off to make a few million elsewhere, then we give up our time and/or money to manage them and help them to function as a community … and we have “a useful role to play?”

    Well, that’s certainly more than Airbnb who, whatever their touchy-feely literature says, are only interested in making as much money as possible from the sweat of our collective brow.

    Airbnb’s so-called protections have been shown time and again to be tissue thin.  When problems arise, the victims are rarely if ever happy about the assistance they get (if any). And the rating system is a joke for one-time guests who will just get another mate to book the flat the next time they want an all-weekend party.

    I find it hard to stomach the sight of our politicians bending over backwards to accommodate a business that actively encourages people to ignore planning laws.

    And as for the “negligible” effect on rents and availability of properties – that is just selective analysis.  In the areas where short-term letting is most common, rents have gone up by a factor of two or three times the rest of the city and availability has dropped (as evidenced by two peer-reviewed Sydney University studies).

    In short, in the areas where Airbnb urges visitors to “live like locals” – the locals are being driven out (as is happening all over the world).

    The figures may be “negligible” across Greater Sydney as a whole, but in the suburbs where Airbnb is most active they are significant and profound.

    The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.