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Short Term Rental Accommodation

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What is Short-term Rental Accommodation?

Short-term Rental Accommodation (STRA) refers to a dwelling used by the ‘host’ to provide accommodation in the dwelling on a commercial basis for a temporary or short-term period. STRA is often facilitated through online booking platforms such as Stayz, Airbnb and Booking.com.

Short-term rental accommodation – What has changed?

Code of Conduct

A Code of Conduct, which was announced by NSW Fair Trading in December 2020, imposes new obligations on booking platforms, hosts, letting agents and guest.

The Code of Conduct includes provisions such as:

  • Guests must not make noise that unreasonably disrupts neighbours
  • Guests must not cause damage to the premises, including common property.

Anyone who is found breaking these rules could face penalties such as warning notices, fines or being added to an exclusion register.

Fore more information on the Code of Conduct, visit the NSW Fair Trading website.

New State-wide policy framework for short term rental accommodation

The NSW Government has announced a state-wide policy for short-term rental accommodation (STRA) that applies a clear and consistent set of rules while protecting the rights of hosts, guests and neighbours across NSW. The new framework compliments the Code of Conduct.

The policy mandates the registration of a property on the new state-wide STRA Register before you can undertake STRA in NSW and requires the registrant to confirm the STRA dwelling complies with the relevant fire safety standards.

To register your property or find further information, visit NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment

Fire safety requirements grace period

NSW Planning acknowledges that due to COVID-19 stay at home orders, some hosts have been unable to travel to their properties or secure tradespeople to ensure they are compliant with the fire safety standards.

As a temporary measure in response to the stay at home orders, we will allow a ‘grace period’ for this requirement, delaying the fire and safety requirement until 1 March 2022. This means hosts have an extra four months to ensure their dwelling complies with the fire safety standards.

You must still register your property to take bookings for summer.

Short term rental accommodation – Complaints

Residents are encouraged to direct initial concerns relating to properties operating as short term rental accommodation to NSW Fair Trading. Fair Trading will consider the complaint to initially determine if the complaint concerns a potential breach of the code or if it is a matter that should be referred to local council or the NSW Police.

To find out more or lodge a complaint with Fair Trading, visit NSW Fair Trading website.

For further information about the new rules for STRA, please read: