NSW Fair Trading have made an amendment to the online version of the Strata Living guide (page 4 & 23) to accurately state that by-laws must be provided to a tenant within 7 days of signing a tenancy agreement.
The Fair Trading webpage By-laws in your strata scheme has also been updated to accurately reflect a landlord’s obligation as per the residential tenancy agreement.
The Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 states that by-laws should be provided to tenants within 14 days of entering into an agreement (Section 186). However, clause 35 in the standard residential tenancy agreement states that the by-laws must be provided to new tenants within 7 days of entering into an agreement.
As the terms of tenancy agreements are binding, this means that a landlord of a strata property must give a new tenant a copy of the by-laws within 7 days of entering into an agreement.
The different timeframes for provision of by-laws to tenants will be aligned under upcoming changes to strata scheme laws, and the standard residential tenancy agreement.
Our advice is that it would be best practice to provide a copy of the by-laws at the same time the lease is executed.
Have any questions? Your EAC Membership includes access to legal advice, which can be obtained by calling 1300 137 161.
Please tell us where we get the by laws from
We would suggest that a copy be obtained from the Strata managing agent to ensure that they are the most recent version.
What happens if your landlord doesn’t give you the by laws within seven days?