NSW: Q&A Is Living in a Garage Illegal? How Can We Stop This?

A lot owner from NSW is wondering is living in a garage illegal? Leanne Habib, Premium Strata provides the following response.

Question: How do we best address tenants using the garage as a spare bedroom? Is living in a garage illegal? Do we need a bylaw to stop this from happening again?

We have tenants who have moved into a villa and are using the garage as a bedroom for family and visitors. The strata plan indicates 2 bedrooms per villa and the garage is identified as a garage. Is living in a garage illegal?

Would you be able to provide information on the best way to address this issue?

Is a separate bylaw required to ensure this activity is not repeated in the future?

Answer: A garage is not a “habitable” area and therefore, in all likelihood, the tenants are in breach of planning instruments, zoning etc., of local council.

A garage is not a “habitable” area and therefore, in all likelihood, the tenants are in breach of planning instruments, zoning etc., of local council.

A by-law might be a useful tool to highlight to such tenants that they are in breach of Council regulations (and that way you can enforce the by-law through a Notice of Breach and/or take action through Council to issue an order etc).

You should also carefully check the certificate of title to determine whether or not the garages are identified as a utility lot with the notation “PURSUANT TO S.63 STRATA SCHEMES DEVELOPMENT ACT 2015 THIS STRATA SCHEME CONTAINS UTILITY LOT(S)”. In this case, human occupation is illegal and orders may be obtained against the offending tenants:

235 Orders enforcing restrictions on uses of utility lots

1. The Tribunal may, on application by an owners corporation, the lessor under a leasehold strata scheme or an owner or occupier of a lot in a strata scheme, order the owner of a utility lot and any other person who received notice of the application to refrain from committing a breach of a restriction imposed under section 63 of the Strata Schemes Development Act 2015 on the use of the utility lot.
2. The Tribunal may, on application by the local council, order the owner of a utility lot and any other person who received notice of the application to refrain from committing a breach of a restriction imposed under section 63 of the Strata Schemes Development Act 2015 on the use of the utility lot.

It is also likely in breach of standard by-law 19 because human occupation is likely to be inherently dangerous and likely to “affect” the insurances of the Owners Corporation.

Leanne Habib
Premium Strata
E: info@premiumstrata.com.au
P: 02 9281 6440

This article is not intended to be personal advice and you should not rely on it as a substitute for any form of advice.

This post appears in Strata News #163.

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