THE growth in the number of strata title properties in Perth has led to a potentially divisive legal issue – the conversion of residential apartment buildings into short-stay apartments.
It’s a looming regulation issue that local authorities are yet to embrace.
Currently, both single owners who offer their unit at a daily or weekly rate for short-term accommodation, and large scale serviced apartment operations running out of a residential apartment complex, do so in contravention of local authority by-laws.
Most apartment owners would strongly argue that they hold the right to use the property as they wish. But the practice of renting apartments out for short-term accommodation angers many permanent residents, who complain that the constant stream of holiday makers through their complex increases the wear and tear on shared facilities, increases their strata fees, creates excessive noise and compromises complex security.