Question: We recently purchased an apartment and receive approval for a pet. We’ve decided to short term let for a few months and have advertised it as “pet friendly”. The Strata Manager has demanded we stop short term letting and stated there are to be no unknown pets at the property. Can they do this?
We recently purchased an apartment at the Gold Coast. The contract of sale had pet approval. Unfortunately, we can’t move straight into so we have decided to holiday let the apartment for a couple of months. We advertised the apartment as “pet friendly”.
The strata management company is demanding we immediately stop renting the apartment. They are concerned about the short term letting and unknown pets coming to the property. Does the strata company have the right to stop us renting our apartment?
Our pet approval letter doesn’t state the sex, breed, age, colour, the weight of the pet. Why does it matter which pet it is? Do we have to stop holiday letting the apartment and say no to pets?
Answer: Pet approval is not usually permission given to ‘any’ animal at any time.
Typically, permission to keep an animal on the scheme is given specific to the animal, i.e., it’s not usually permission given to ‘any’ animal at any time. Things such as the name and the breed of the animal would be noted in the permission. Did you initial permission give you blanket animal approval? You will need to double check that.
Based on what you’ve said, it appears you were given permission for ‘your’ animal and now you have a situation where you want permission for potentially any animal brought by a guest who is short-term letting. That is a different matter and would largely depend on the applicable by-laws. If you are advertising your lot as ‘pet friendly’ and the permissions have not been granted for animals in that context, you (and your guests) may be in breach. You may also find yourself in breach of consumer laws by advertising a property as something which it is not.
The claims of the person who ‘confronted’ you that you must immediately stop renting the apartment as it is ‘residential’ may have more to do with how your apartment is zoned by local council rather than an issue with animals. That said, you will need to consult your by-laws and I recommend you seek legal advice, as there are several issues at play here.
This post appears in Strata News #450.
Chris Irons Strata Solve E: chris@stratasolve.com.au P: 0419 805 898