HELL YEAH: NSW Just Rejigged Its Guidelines ‘Bout Owning Pets In Apartments

Oi, pet owners of New South Wales: the government is suggesting a new set of by-laws to apartment owners, so sharing a place with your furry m8s may soon be a lil’ easier.

NSW has just re-jigged the strata laws that apartment owners need to follow. They’ve also changed up their suggested by-laws, aka the ones that directly impact you as a tenant.

Before November 30, the model by-laws that owners could choose to adopt featured a built-in clause that banned pets. If an owner wanted to allow pets in their property (the objectively correct choice, imo), they needed to alter the by-laws themselves.

In the new set, all that talk about banning pets has been eliminated. Of course, apartment owners can still choose to ban pets in their by-laws, but the go-to set of regulations now offered by the government essentially says “animals are fab, bring ’em in.”

As a result of that change, any apartment owner or owners corporation which adopts the new model by-laws can’t knock back any sensible request to keep a pet in the property. That’s not all, either: NSW is proactively asking apartment owners whether they’d like to retract any current by-law ban on the precious creatures / family members.

This isn’t a set-in-stone new law saying your right to have a pet is protected, but it is a beaut start. 

The amended set of strata laws also considers some new challenges faced by high-density apartments. Cigarette (and BBQ) smoke, which wasn’t previously considered a nuisance or danger to neighbours, is now something to look out for.

If the fam next door isn’t keen on the scent of your dart or succulent balcony meal wafting into their living room, they can take it up with the owners corp. They can issue you with notices to cut it out, but if you don’t, you could be up for a tribunal visit and a $1100 fine – double what it previously was.

So, the lesson to be learned here is that you should probably keep the smoke to a minimum, and ask your property’s owner if they’ll consider changing their pet ban by-law. I, for one, just moved into a place with a corgi (can you tell?), and I am personally stoked the option may be open to more of y’all soon.