A letting agent is a person who carries on a business as an agent who enables people to enter short-term rental accommodation arrangements and often collects the rental payments for the premises.
Facilitators provide property management services for residential premises used for short-term rental. Services that can be provided include creating listings, rental pricing, guest vetting and communications, check-in services and cleaning.
This means that both letting agents and facilitators have important roles in helping their customers comply with the Code of Conduct for the Short-term Rental Accommodation Industry (Code).
Letting agent obligations
Information about the Code of Conduct
A letting agent must inform customers using their services about the Code of Conduct and the obligations that arise under the Code.
This includes the obligations that the letting agent has to their customers. A copy of the Code must also be readily available to those using the letting agent’s services.
Notice of complaint or dispute
To help resolve disputes and issues arising between its customers, a letting agent must notify the guest or the host of a complaint or a dispute that relates to them as soon as possible after they are made aware.
The letting agent must take reasonable steps to ensure that a host or guest is aware of how to lodge a complaint with NSW Fair Trading about a guest, host or premises.
Read more about Short-term Rental Accommodation Complaints.
Premises register
From 1 November 2021, letting agents must not advertise a premises unless it is registered on the STRA premises register and its registration number is displayed with the details of the premises.
It is mandatory for hosts to register their dwellings on the STRA premises register. There are fees associated with registration.
More information about the STRA premises register is available on the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment website.
Exclusion register
A letting agent must not advertise or facilitate the offering of accommodation if a host or premises are listed on the Exclusion Register.
The agent must ensure that a guest who is listed on the Exclusion Register is unable to use its services to enter an arrangement for accommodation.
If the agent is made aware that a guest, host or premises has been recorded on the exclusion register while using its services it must notify as soon as possible the guest or host of the listing on the register.
The public exclusion register on the NSW Fair Trading website can be used to check whether individual hosts or guests are excluded for the STRA arrangements you are involved in.
Read more about the Exclusion Register, including the public facing exclusion register.
Subscribe to updates on changes to the exclusion register
To help letting agents comply with their requirements when dealing with a larger volume of short-term rental arrangements, NSW Fair Trading will provide updates when changes are made to the exclusion register. These updates will be sent to letting agents with a property manager licence and booking platforms who subscribe to receive the updates.
To subscribe, visit the subscriber portal and provide your property licence number to create a log in. You will then be notified when changes are made to the exclusion register. If you receive a notification about a change to the register, you can log in to access information on the exclusion register through a secure platform.
To comply with obligations under the code, letting agents with a property manager licence should create a login to subscribe to updates on changes to the exclusion register – this includes carefully reviewing the terms of use and privacy statement.
Once this has been completed, you will not need to take further action unless you receive a notification that the exclusion register has been updated.
If you are not subscribed to receive notifications, you will need to check the public exclusion register before each booking to make sure you are not entering into a STRA arrangement with an excluded host or guest.
Read more about the Exclusion Register.
Record-keeping requirements
Letting agents must keep records of each transaction entered into using its services for 3 years.
Requiring these records to be kept will help NSW Fair Trading in handling complaints and in the future development of the regulatory framework.
Facilitator obligations
A facilitator acting as a representative for a letting agent must comply with the same obligations as are imposed on the letting agent, as outlined above.
A facilitator that is acting as a representative for a host must comply with the same obligations as are imposed on the host.
When acting on behalf of a host, a facilitator must keep records of each transaction that is entered into on behalf of the host.
This will help NSW Fair Trading in handling complaints and in the future development of the regulatory framework.
Read more about Host obligations.
General obligations
The Code of Conduct imposes some general obligations that apply to all industry participants, including letting agents and facilitators.
Act honestly and in good faith
All participants must act honestly and in good faith as part of any short-term rental accommodation arrangement.
Participants must act honestly and in good faith in relation to any dealing, complaint or dispute that arises about a short-term rental accommodation arrangement.
Cooperation with NSW Fair Trading
All participants must cooperate with NSW Fair Trading in its enforcement and administration of the Code of Conduct.
This includes complying with directions issued by Fair Trading and with requests for information relating to their activities as an industry participant or under the Code.
The information collected by Fair Trading will be used to enforce the Code and to monitor, evaluate and inform further development of the regulatory framework.
Identity of participants excluded from the industry
Industry participants must not knowingly misrepresent the identity of any person or premises to avoid a provision of the Code because the person or premises is recorded on the Exclusion Register.
Read more about the Exclusion Register.