Do tenants in NSW really have to obey by-laws, wonders Flat Chat website regular KiwiPaul.
“In NSW the tenancy agreement only states that tenants have to be given a copy of the bylaws,” he says. “There is nothing to indicate that they have to comply with them, which seems to me a fatal flaw.”
He has a point. Unlike in Queensland, the standard NSW residential tenancy agreement doesn’t require renters to agree to observe the by-laws of their new home.
There’s a box to tick if it’s a strata property plus a note that the landlord has to provide a copy of the bylaws, but nowhere for the tenant to say they will abide by them.
However, that doesn’t mean by-laws are optional for tenants. In fact, the NSW strata Act clearly says that owners and lessees – and even occupiers – have to comply with by-laws as if they had read and signed them all personally.
That’s why tenants in NSW should demand a copy of the by-laws when they rent apartments.
That said, how hard would it be to add a line to the standard lease reminding tenants they have to play by the rules?
You’ll find the relevant clause from the NSW Act, and a broader discussion of the issues, HERE.
In Queensland the law says residential tenancy agreements must be in writing and the standard agreement (available via this web page) has several pages of rules and regulations for landlords and tenants, including an obligation to abide by strata by-laws.
In Victoria neither the residential tenancy forms, the Act nor the Consumer Affairs guide to tenancies even mention by-laws (or ‘rules’, as they are called there) although the Owners Corporation Act clearly states that all lessees, sub-lessees and occupants are subject to the rules.
The standard tenancy form in Victoria has a space where landlords can write in any other conditions – like rules on pets, for instance. The landlord could specify that abiding by the strata rules is a condition of tenancy. But in any case, there are other provisions in the agreement, like not disturbing your neighbours, that apply to houses and units alike.