Short term let threat from B’n’B website

My neighbour rents out her spare room in our Pyrmont strata building through Airbnb and has never had any issues.  She was away once when someone arrived and asked me to meet them.  We had no problems and they were really nice people.  Having met quite a few of her tenants they have been a good calibre of person.  Frankly some of the owners and tenants in our building are absolute grubs.  At least these people will leave.  We have so much trouble with owners owing thousands in strata fees and tenants who don’t care for our building or other residents.  I’d prefer to see some effort put into providing our committee with greater abilities to stop poor behaviour by longer term occupants.

Stratafied said 

“Full stop”.  What does that mean even?  This is a discussion board.  Happy to debate opinion and put up ideas however that is not really an effective way to have a conversation as it comes across as slightly rude.  I will assume however you didn’t intend that.

No offense intended Stratafied. Merely stating that the issue should be very black & white. Either it is allowed (and all owners therefore would be purchasing with this in mind) or it isn’t (and the multitudes of owners commenting in these pages against short term letting of their apartments are rightly aggrieved and should expect councils to take action).

Good on you contactchris, it’s nice to see a resident defending the much maligned holiday rental business.  I’m sure there are a few ‘parasites’ around, but please don’t assume that everyone who rents their apartment to holidaymakers rather than long term tenants is irresponsible.

We have no restrictions on the minimum length of tenancies in our building. Having successfully let our house over the summer for some years, when we went looking for an apartment to downsize into (we are ‘expectant’ empty-nesters), the option of using it for holiday lets when we were on holiday ourselves was a key consideration. After we had purchased, we actually designed our renovation of the apartment specifically with that in mind.

We have previously leased our family home on a long term basis while we were overseas. The experience was not pleasant, particularly having to operate under the incredibly one-sided NSW Rental Tenancies Act which makes dodgy tenants virtually untouchable. After the all-too-common experience of having to reclaim possession of our property when the tenants decided they didn’t want to leave at the end of their lease, we resolved never to do that again. In contrast, our experience with having rented our properties to more than fifty holiday groups over the past few years has been almost entirely positive. 

If the holiday groups are the correct size for the property, if they are appropriately vetted, (something which is easy to do in these days of Skype and email) and if the conditions of rental are reinforced with a cash bond, holiday rentals are relatively easy to manage and put no undue pressure on permanent residents in the same buildings. Perhaps most importantly, if a holiday group does behave badly (which is unlikely as they usually want their bond back), the landlord can remove them summarily. If a long term tenant behaves the same way, the residents can look forward to a minimum of eight weeks before even the most motivated landlord can get them out.

Waiting to meet a friend in our Foyer today I was asked by someone if I was waiting to ‘check-in’.  When I replied that I live in the property my interlocutor introduced himself as a fellow owner, and I in turn introduced myself.  I was subsequently abused by the other for ‘causing all the trouble’, as I’m very much on the record for trying to verify whether or not short-term letting is a compliant activity in our building (zoned ‘Permanent Residential Accommodation Only’).  As well, the current EC – all active in short-term letting – have told me I’d be “named and shamed” and “hunted down and sued”.  (The ‘naming/shaming’ happens every time the Minutes of EC Meetings are distributed and, yes, there’ve been serious attempts at litigation.) In no uncertain terms was I told by the ‘other’ that he has rented his apartment (on my floor) short-term since ‘day one’ and that I’m – to be polite here in this blog – out-of-order.  I refrained from describing the problems and constant noise caused by this person’s so-called guests and instead asked him if he was aware of the extent of his/our financial liability due to a non-compliant activity in our property.  Again, another mouthful of abuse hurled at me.  Hooplah, what a charming (NOT) fellow owner – wish he actually lived here so he could experience life in our Residential property!

Is it legal under strata laws for units to be let for short term holiday makers?

There’s been a lot of discussion on this topic both here and elsewhere, but I wasn’t aware that there was a zoning of “permanent residential”; just “residential” and the medium and high descriptors within that.

I also wonder if a Plan’s Special By-Law banning short-term lets would contravene Sect 49(1) of the NSW Strata Schemes Management Act?

Doesn’t affect me personally or the operations of our Plan, but just wondering and seeking clarification!