Published
Can your strata stop you letting short-term in NSW?
The most expensive mistake in Sydney short-stay is furnishing an apartment in a building that does not allow it. It takes one email to avoid.
What the law actually allows a scheme to do
Under the NSW strata framework, an owners corporation can adopt a by-law prohibiting short-term rental accommodation in a lot where that lot is not the principal place of residence of the person letting it. In plain terms: a scheme can stop an investor letting nightly, and cannot stop an owner-occupier letting a room in the home they live in.
That single distinction decides a great many Sydney apartments. It is also why two owners in the same building can be given opposite answers and both be right.
How to find out in a day
Get the registered by-laws for the scheme — your strata manager has them, and they are attached to the strata search a buyer's conveyancer orders. Read for any by-law mentioning short-term rental accommodation, short-term letting, holiday letting or minimum occupancy periods.
Then email the strata manager and ask, in writing: does this scheme have a by-law restricting short-term rental accommodation, and has the owners corporation resolved to adopt one. Written matters. A verbal 'should be fine' from a neighbour is not a defence and will not be remembered the same way in six months.
What a restriction does not mean
A by-law against nightly letting is not a by-law against every furnished arrangement. Longer stays — a month or more, on a residential tenancy or a licence — usually sit outside short-term rental accommodation entirely, which is why a building that says no to weekends can still work for relocation, medical and corporate guests.
It also does not mean the property is a bad investment. It means the strategy has to match the building, which is a better problem to have before the furniture arrives than after.
Do this before you spend anything
Check the by-laws. Check whether the building has any registration, key or lift-booking rules that make turnovers impractical. Check the fire safety requirements that apply to your building type. Only then price the furniture.
This is general information, not legal advice. For a scheme-specific answer, or where a by-law is contested, talk to a strata lawyer.