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Topic
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Please advise if possible to prevent units in our building from being rented by investor owners to what appears to be public housing. We understand that the government is encouraging owners to enter into such agreements which guarantees rent and takes care of any maintenance necessary. This would be a very nice arrangement for investors but lowers the standard of the building for the three (only) owners who call this their home and will decrease the value of the property as well. So far one unit is now occupied by ‘rent assisted’ tenant.
We are situated in an expensive eastern suburb of Sydney.
Dept of Fair Trading advised that there is no rule under strata rules preventing this. Can we raise a by-law preventing owners from doing this and how do we do that?
Look forward to your advice.
Thank you
Worried Owner
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Replies
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OK, first up, you can’t prevent anyone from renting their unit to anyone else (unless it’s a short-term rental and they aren’t permitted in your building or you are in a 55s and over retirement village).
Also, we shouldn’t make any assumptions about how anyone will behave based simply on their social and economic status. Any issues regarding noise, antisocial behaviour or overcrowding have to be dealt with if they happen.
Some of the worst-behaved people I have encountered in strata have been arrogant owners who think their title deeds entitle them to behave as badly as they would if they were in a free-standing home.
However, there is nothing to stop you from formulating a “Code of Conduct” to be issued to all residents, regardless of whether they are tenants or owners, pointing out that there are by-laws, what the main ones are, that they apply to everyone and that they are enforced.
I would try to make the wording more welcoming than threatening, and this may not be the place to remind tenants (regardless of who their landlord is) that a breach of by-laws is also a breach of their tenancy agreement. But it will come as surprise to some tenants to discover that by-laws apply to them and they could lose their homes if they breach them.
Just one final thought on this – don’t be too worried; it’s a lot easier to get rid of bad tenants than it is to get shot of ratbag owners.
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.
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