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The NSW Government has banned solicited rent bids and changed the rules for how rental properties can be advertised.
The new rules started on Saturday, 17 December 2022. If you are an agent:
- you cannot solicit rental bids. Soliciting a bid is when an agent invites a prospective tenant to increase their offer of rent higher than the advertised price for the residential property
- you must advertise a fixed rental price on new residential property listings. Agents can no longer give a price range, such as $500-$550, or use text such as ‘offers from’ or ‘by negotiation’. This applies to property listings published on or after 17 December 2022.
These rules only apply to agents, not landlords.
Guidance to reduce data breach risk
Property agencies collect and sometimes retain large amounts of personal information. Following major cyber incidents and data breaches affecting customers across Australia, it’s more important than ever that property agencies increase cyber security.
To reduce the risk to business and the public, it’s critically important that agents securely store personal information, as required by law, and destroy or de-identify it as soon as possible.
Elevating property services through Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
Education and training for the property services industry is changing from early next year.
From 23 March 2023, the CPD requirement for Class 1 and 2 agents is four hours training on compulsory topics. The training must be from an approved provider and include an assessment activity.
Training must be delivered face to face, in a room or webinar. Licensees who cannot attend these forums must do at least 10 hours of learning online.
In addition, new Supervision Guidelines will require Licensees in Charge to keep a training plan for all the agents they supervise.
Strata scheme reporting due by 31 December
A reminder that strata scheme reporting for key building, management and safety information is due on the NSW Government Strata Hub by 31 December.
You can report individually on the Strata Hub, or for 20 or more strata schemes, through a ‘bulk upload’ using software to connect to the Strata Hub, or Microsoft Excel.
Remember to log into the Strata Hub to review your responses and complete the relevant declarations and payments.
To find out more, visit the Reporting multiple schemes page.
| NSW Fair Trading audits team and the holiday period |
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The audits team will be closed from Monday 26 December 2022 to Friday 6 January 2023, inclusive.
Reminder: on-the-spot asbestos fines
If there is asbestos at your property, or a property you manage, remember that since 14 October 2022, SafeWork NSW inspectors have been able to issue on-the-spot fines to workers who do not follow asbestos safety procedures.
For more information, including a list of licensed asbestos professionals, visit the Safe Work NSW asbestos page.
To stay safe when working with asbestos, watch the series of asbestos videos on YouTube
| Other NSW Government news |
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In this section, we include updates in brief and list resources and reference links from other areas of NSW Government that may be relevant to you.
Storms and flood safety
Stay up to date on flood recovery and support, visit nsw.gov.au/floods or call Service NSW on 13 77 88.
Pandemic and health
For all the latest COVID-19 updates and advice for NSW businesses, visit nsw.gov.au/COVID-19.
Health and safety
SafeWork NSW wants your views on health, safety and wellbeing at work. Is your workplace ready to adopt an integrated Healthy Work approach? Have your say and share your experience so we can create a safer workplace future.
Get prepared for 2023 land tax – information for property owners
Land tax for NSW properties is evaluated at the end of December each year. Revenue NSW is sharing some important updates to land tax rates and processes to help property owners prepare for the 2023 land tax year. The 2023 land tax notice of assessments will be issued from 4 January 2023.
Find out more about:
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While emails will not be attended to during this period, the Auditor’s Report Online portal will be open to accept late audits until 31 December 2022, when it will close.
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| Happy holidays |
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We wish all our readers a happy, safe and relaxing holiday.
Property Matters will be back in 2023 with the latest updates for the NSW property industry. In the meantime, stay up to date by visiting the NSW Fair Trading website, and by following our social channels on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. |
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