Amendments to Residential Land Lease Communities Act

As reported in Outasite 12, the laws governing residential land lease communities changed in 2024. We have updated our factsheets to reflect the changes. Many residents in land lease communities have started to receive notices from their operators around some of the more notable changes to the Act. If you’re a home owner who has received notice of a change to your fixed method or by-notice method of site fee increase, and are not sure if it complies with the new requirements, contact your local Tenants Advice service for advice.

Electricity

Many residents supplied with electricity from an embedded network are also receiving notice about changes that came into play with the amendments of the Act. Electricity use and supply charges are now regulated in accordance with median retail market offer of the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal NSW (IPART).

Things to check or get advice on:

• Billing requirements for all utilities supplied
• Electricity usage charges for your distribution area if in an embedded network
• Electricity supply charges for your distribution area if in an embedded network
  and,
• whether supply charges reflect the various discounts for homes receiving 60 amps or less.

Amendments expected this year

Land lease communities

When they’re announced, the anticipated phase two amendments proposed this year for the Residential Land Lease Communities Act, will be covered in Outasite and Outasite Lite (you can subscribe here).

We expect to see changes around responsibilities for repair and maintenance of sites, refined mandatory operator education requirements, greater community involvement in establishing community rules and much more.

Local government regulations

We are also waiting on news about the draft bill developed by review of the regulatory framework for caravan parks, camping grounds, manufactured home estates and moveable dwellings. Of particular interest from the review are the proposed amendments to the Local Government (Manufactured Home Estates, Caravan Parks,Camping Grounds and Moveable Dwellings) Regulations 2021.

Changes expected in the first phase of this bill are: prohibition of permanent dwelling sites on flood prone land, more consistency across short term site stays (increasing to 180 days in a 12 month period) and clearer standards around community maps, separation distances, fire hydrants and hose reels.

This article appeared in Outasite Lite 49. You can subscribe here.