No Comments

Short Term Letting Restrictions

Short-term letting restrictions and how they impact you

As most of you would know, short term lettings in strata units and houses were causing a big fuss some years ago. Then, there were the debates (including parliamentary debates) as to whether these should be permitted, prohibited or permitted with conditions. Even now, we hear about the massive out of control Airbnb parties from time to time. Then again, there are the many success stories behind these passive income gems. So, where are we at now?

For NSW, the statutory framework governing short term letting has three main parts being: (i) the strata legislation, (ii) the mandatory code of conduct, and (iii) the planning laws.

Strata legislation for units and apartments

On and from 10 April 2020, the Strata Management Scheme Act 2015 was amended to include a new section 137A. In essence, the owners corporations can make a by-law by way of a special resolution in general meeting to ban short term rental accommodation where the person giving the rental arrangement does not occupy the lot as their principal place of residence. In short, the person granting the short term rental needs to live in the lot. If you (or your strata scheme) want to allow short term rentals, we suggest you to arrange a by-law to be made to expressly allow them, subject of course to conditions.
Continue reading…

No Comments

Property Law Tested by Developer

Jobema Developments Pty Limited is the first developer to test the new property law introduced by the Conveyancing Amendment (Sunset Clauses) Act 2015, which requires vendors to either obtain the consent of purchasers before they can rescind an off-the-plan contract in reliance on a sunset clause in the contract, or to obtain the permission of the Supreme Court to do so.

Facts:

In this case, Jobema, the defendant, purchased a development site from Xycom, who had exchanged a number of off-the-plan contracts with a sunset date for the registration of the strata plan of 31 December 2015. As part of the purchase, Jobema would assume Xycom’s obligations under the exchanged off-the-plan contracts, one of which was with Mr Wu.

Xycom had carried out minimal work on the project before it had been sold. While Jobema commenced work immediately, the project was not completed by the sunset date. As required by the new legislation, notice of the proposed rescission was served on Mr Wu and the notice cited several reasons for the delay and the proposed rescission. Mr Wu did not consent to the rescission and Jobema subsequently applied for leave in the Supreme Court under the Conveyancing Act.
Continue reading…

No Comments

Changes to Property Laws – Strata

IMPORTANT CHANGES TO PROPERTY TRANSACTIONS
The Conveyancing (Legislation) Amendment Act 2018 introduces changes that will provide better protection for purchasers buying property off the plan and more flexibility to those using electronic land contracts and deeds.

Off the plan Contracts:
An off the plan contract is used to sell a property such as a strata unit without its own separate title, given the property does not exist at the time contracts are exchanged.

Off the plan contracts can be beneficial to both property developers and purchasers. For property developers, finance is generally dependent on the percentage of lots that have been pre-sold.

For purchasers, these off the plan contracts are a popular way to enter the property market. This is because the construction and settlement periods can take years, providing extra time for buyers to save funds required for settlement.

However, due to the very nature of the transactions, off the plan purchasers are particularly vulnerable to the actions of developers. The new laws aim to address this vulnerability.
Continue reading…

No Comments

Changes to Short-Term Rental Accommodations – Is the Holiday Over

The Department of Planning and Environment is currently in the process to introduce state-wide planning framework for Short-Term Rental Accommodation (STRA) following reforms provided to the Fair Trading Act 1987 (NSW) and Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) at the end of 2018.

The changes proposed are as a result of the ever growing easily accessible holiday rental market whereby STRA in New South Wales initially compromised of a voluntary Code of Conduct – Holiday Rental Code of Conduct – originally adopted in 2012.

With growth in the industry outpacing policy changes, owner’s corporations were forced to use strata laws to manage STRA impacts and locally derived planning controls. Due to the difficulty surrounding the permissibility of uses, concerns have been raised by local communities as a result of noise, parking and house availability. In 2015, the NSW Legislative Assembly Committee on Environment and Planning conducted an inquiry into the adequacy of the regulation into STRA finding that planning laws needed to be amended to regulate the STRA.
Continue reading…