Land lease communities in profile

People may be aware that operators of land lease communities are required to provide certain details about the community to the Commissioner for Fair Trading. This information is kept in a ‘Register of Communities’ and some of it is publicly available through the Fair Trading website.

In May 2012 Fair Trading produced a report entitled ‘Residential Parks, Profile of the Industry’ based on information that was in the register at that time. The report said that there were 477 residential parks in NSW and a total of 33,632 permanent residents (home owners and renters).

The report also showed that there were 19,451 homes owned and occupied by residents and a further 3,027 were rented giving a total of 22,478 homes.

In July this year the Tenants’ Union obtained some of the unpublished information from the register through a Government Information Public Access (GIPA) application. According to the current register there are now 497 land lease communities (residential parks) and 34,297 residents.

The current register also shows that there are now 23,479 homes in land lease communities. 20,364 homes are owned and occupied by home owners and 3,115 are rented from operators.

The new data does not necessarily mean that there are 20 new land lease communities, it could just be that some communities that were not previously registered have now gone through that process. Anecdotal evidence however does point to an expansion of the industry. When we were out visiting communities we saw a couple of new communities and lots of new development. We were also advised by home owners that a number of operators have been replacing holiday sites with residential sites.

One of the objects of the Residential (Land Lease) Communities Act is “to encourage the continued growth and viability of residential communities in the State” and although it’s early days the signs are that the industry is growing.

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