› Flat Chat Strata Forum › Living in strata › Will Victoria’s pro-Airbnb ruling affect NSW › Current Page
What the court found in Victoria was that strata owners cannot make by-laws (they call them rules in Victoria) to prevent the use of an apartment for short-term lettings. ‘Short-term lettings’ in that case were made by a serviced apartment operator, but would apply to AirBnB, Stayz, and in fact anyone who rents an apartment out for less than 30 days in Victoria.
The actual decision turned upon the fact that in Victoria, the power of an owners corporation to make rules is limited to common property issues – no rules can be made as to use of a strata lot.
The strata law in NSW allows by-laws to be made to govern use, but with an overriding prohibition against restricting rentals.
The NSW Committee of Inquiry into the Adequacy of the Regulation of Short-term Holiday Letting in New South Wales is currently considering what, if any, powers an owners corporation should have to restrict the use of a strata lot when it comes to short-term lettings such as serviced apartment, AirBnB, Stayz, style operations.
For my commentary upon the Victorian decision click on https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=afc7e814-5184-4323-b378-ab45a1c37c87 (Court finds that strata owners in Victoria cannot make rules to prevent the use of an apartment for short-term lettings)
For my commentary upon the NSW Committee of Inquiry proceedings and the law on short stay lettings click on https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=23d8ada1-db1b-4470-8ff5-d9641da604ce (The law is catching up with short stay – Airbnb style lettings in Australia)