After an extensive consultation period, the NSW government has released plans to regulate Air BNB-style letting. The Fair Trading Amendment (Short-term Rental Accommodation) Bill 2018 was introduced on 6 June. It proposes a mandatory code of conduct for the short term rental accommodation industry, and amends the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 to allow strata scheme bylaws to ban short term letting of apartments, where the host is not a resident, on a 75% majority vote. There will be significant financial penalties for breaches of the Code of Conduct (up to $1.1 million for companies and $220,000 for individuals).
In addition, a statewide planning instrument will:
- place a 180 day cap on the number of days properties in Greater Sydney can be rented on a short term basis when hosts are not present (up to 365 days in other areas of NSW)
- classify short term holiday letting as an exempt development 365 days a year if the host is present.
