Get Those Rentals Legal

When I first moved here in the mid-80s most houses and studios were not DA approved. Over the years that has quickly been changing as more and more city buyers have purchased using city solicitors and conveyancers.

It is a good idea for landowners to build studios and granny flats as much as possible. There is a housing emergency and it looks like the powers that be are either incapable or unwilling to do anything about it. Therefore the private sector (you and me) need to do as much as we can to help. If you did not see the Four Corners programme on this issue, try to see it on ABC IView.

Lots of things have moved on from the 80s. It is now imperative for owners to have any rental properties legal. I plan to go into the details of this issue in a later blog as it is wickedly complex. In this shire, there are many hundreds of residents living in unapproved rentals. It is a major source of affordable housing and I wish we could just turn away from compliance as we have done in the past.

But there are legal, liability, insurance and economic storm clouds brewing over this so be warned and do your best to be DA approved. There are valid reasons why real estate agents no longer want to lease unapproved dwellings.