Fair Trading Amendment (Code of Conduct for Short-term Rental Accommodation Industry) Regulation 2020 (NSW)

New South Wales

Fair Trading Amendment (Code of Conduct

for Short-term Rental Accommodation

Industry) Regulation 2020

under the

Fair Trading Act 1987

Her Excellency the Governor, with the advice of the Executive Council, has made the following

Regulation under the Fair Trading Act 1987.

KEVIN ANDERSON, MP

Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation

Explanatory note

The objects of this Regulation are as follows—

(a)	to declare a code of conduct for the short-term rental accommodation industry,
(b)	to prescribe persons who provide property management services as an additional class of persons to whom the code of conduct applies,
(c)	to exclude certain arrangements (including the provision of refuge or crisis accommodation) from the operation of the code of conduct,
(d)	to provide for appeals against the listing of a person on the exclusion register kept under the code of conduct,
(e)	to authorise the imposition and recovery of fees in connection with the enforcement and administration of the code of conduct,
(f)	to specify the maximum amount that may be imposed as a civil penalty for contravention of the code of conduct,
(g)	to enable the offence of contravention of the code of conduct to be dealt with by way of penalty notice.

This Regulation is made under the Fair Trading Act 1987, including Division 4A of Part 4, section 67 and section 92 (the general regulation-making power).

Fair Trading Amendment (Code of Conduct for Short-term Rental Accommodation Industry) Regulation 2020

[NSW]

Fair Trading Amendment (Code of Conduct for Short-term Rental

Accommodation Industry) Regulation 2020

under the

Fair Trading Act 1987

1      Name of Regulation

This Regulation is the Fair Trading Amendment (Code of Conduct for Short-term

Rental Accommodation Industry) Regulation 2020.

2      Commencement

This Regulation commences on 10 April 2020 and is required to be published on the
NSW legislation website.

Fair Trading Amendment (Code of Conduct for Short-term Rental Accommodation Industry) Regulation 2020
[NSW]

Schedule 1 Amendment of Fair Trading Regulation 2019

Schedule 1 Amendment of Fair Trading Regulation 2019

[1]      Part 2A

Insert after Part 2—

Part 2A Short-term rental accommodation industry code of

conduct

11A Declaration of code of conduct

The code of conduct entitled Code of Conduct for the Short-term Rental

Accommodation Industry, as published on the website of the Department on

10 April 2020, is declared for the purposes of section 54B of the Act.

11B	Additional class of short-term rental accommodation industry participants
(1) Persons who provide property management services for residential premises subject to a short-term rental accommodation arrangement are prescribed for the purposes of paragraph (e) of the definition of short-term rental

accommodation industry participant in section 54A of the Act.

(2) For the purposes of subclause (1), property management services include creating listings, rental pricing, guest vetting and communications and check-in services.

11C	Excluded arrangements
(1) The following are excluded from the definition of short-term rental

accommodation arrangement in section 54A of the Act—

(a)	an arrangement under which a person is given the right to occupy—
(i) tourist and visitor accommodation within the meaning of the standard instrument prescribed by the Standard Instrument

(Local Environmental Plans) Order 2006, or

Note. “Tourist and visitor accommodation” includes backpackers’

accommodation, hotel or motel accommodation and serviced
apartments.

(ii)      a registrable boarding house within the meaning of the Boarding

Houses Act 2012, or

(iii)      a holiday park within the meaning of the Holiday Parks

(Long-term Casual Occupation) Act 2002,

(b)

an arrangement under which a person resides or is permitted to reside in refuge or crisis accommodation provided by—

(i)	a public authority (including the Department of Communities and Justice, the New South Wales Land and Housing Corporation or the Aboriginal Housing Office), or
(ii)	a community housing provider registered under the Community

Housing Providers National Law (NSW), or

(iii)      any other body funded wholly or partly by the Commonwealth or the State,

(c)	an arrangement under which a person resides or is permitted to reside in disability accommodation,
(d)	any other arrangement under which a person resides or is permitted to reside in temporary accommodation provided or funded wholly or partly by the Department of Communities and Justice.

Fair Trading Amendment (Code of Conduct for Short-term Rental Accommodation Industry) Regulation 2020
[NSW]

Schedule 1 Amendment of Fair Trading Regulation 2019

(2)

In this clause—

disability has the same meaning as in the Disability Inclusion Act 2014.
disability accommodation means accommodation that is designed for a person

with a disability who is receiving disability assistance, and includes (but is not limited to) specialist disability accommodation within the meaning of the

National Disability Insurance Scheme (Specialist Disability Accommodation
Conditions) Rule 2018 of the Commonwealth.
disability assistance means any one or more of the following forms of

assistance provided to a person with a disability by another person or body
(whether permanently or not)—

(a)	assistance to help the person undertake the person’s day-to-day activities,
(b)	assistance to increase the person’s independence,
(c)	assistance to facilitate the person’s social and economic inclusion in the community.

11D

Appeal against listing on exclusion register

(1)	A person whose details have been listed on the exclusion register referred to in section 54B(2)(g) of the Act may apply to the departmental Secretary to have the person’s details removed from the register.
(2)	An application must be in writing and specify the grounds for removing the person’s details from the exclusion register.
(3)	The departmental Secretary is, within 28 days of receiving an application, to determine the application by deciding—

(a)	to remove the person’s details from the exclusion register, or
(b)	to maintain the person’s listing on the register.
(4)	The departmental Secretary is to notify the person in writing of the Secretary’s decision as soon as practicable after it is made.
(5)	The notice is to include the reasons for the departmental Secretary’s decision.
(6)	The departmental Secretary may delegate the Secretary’s functions under this clause to any other person employed in the Department of Customer Service.
(7)	In this clause, departmental Secretary means the Secretary of the Department of Customer Service.

11E

Fees

(1)	The Secretary may, for the purposes of recovering the costs incurred by the Secretary in connection with the enforcement and administration of the code of conduct declared under this Part, impose fees on short-term rental accommodation industry participants.
(2)	The Secretary may determine the amount of the fees to be paid and the times when they are payable.
(3)	Any fee imposed under this clause may be recovered by the Secretary as a debt due to the Crown.

11F

Civil penalty for contravention of code of conduct

(1) For the purposes of section 54D(2)(a) of the Act, a monetary penalty is not to exceed 10,000 penalty units (in the case of a corporation) and 2,000 penalty units (in any other case).

Fair Trading Amendment (Code of Conduct for Short-term Rental Accommodation Industry) Regulation 2020
[NSW]

Schedule 1 Amendment of Fair Trading Regulation 2019

(2)	The Local Court and the Supreme Court are prescribed for the purposes of section 54D(5) of the Act.
(3)	Despite subclause (1), a monetary penalty imposed by the Local Court under section 54D of the Act is not to exceed 200 penalty units.

[2]      Schedule 1 Penalty notice offences

Insert in appropriate order in the matter relating to offences under the Fair Trading Act

1987—

Section 54C $550 $1,100