Ignorance not bliss

One of the recurring themes in both this column and the Flat Chat Forum is that tenants often don’t know that there are by-laws they’re supposed to observe, mainly because they’ve never seen them.

Another frequent complaint is that Owners Corporations don’t know who they’re dealing with when there are problems with rentals.

However strata law has requirements covering both issues – and non-compliance carries fines.

Landlords in NSW must provide tenants with a copy of the building’s by-laws within 7 days of them signing the lease.  The same applies to changes of the by-laws that occur during their tenancies.

This also applies to subleases and failure to do so could cost you a $110 fine. Smart agents provide a copy of the by-laws with their leases. Does yours?  Remember, you’ll pay the fine, not them.

Owners are also obliged to tell the Owners Corporation when they lease or sub-lease their units, to whom they’ve been leased and who the agent is withing 14 days of the lease commencing.  Failure to do that could cost $550.

These fines are hardly crippling but they’d certainly get a slack landlord’s attention.  And they could be a way of exposing and discouraging rogue short-term rentals.

Did you get a copy of the by-laws the last time you rented?

As with strata, tenancy laws vary from state to state and territory to territory.  A very handy one-stop advice website that covers the whole of Australia is TenantHelp.  Just click on the link and then choose your state or territory for specific advice.

For strata legislation for each of the states and territories, there are links HERE.

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