New fire safety standards for Short Term Rental Accommodation in New South Wales take effect on 1 March 2022.
Do you own or manage a property that’s rented out for short stays? Short-term rental accommodation (the type usually rented through platforms like Stayz and AirBnB) is subject to different fire safety standards than long-term residential rentals. With new rules applied from March 2022, now’s the time to make sure the fire safety measures in your STRA property are up to date.
New rules for Short Term Rental Accommodation
Effective 1 March 2022, the NSW Government has introduced a new policy for STRA, including new fire safety standards.
The new rules clarify that STRA activities of three months or less are not covered by the residential tenancy framework. This means that STRA needs its own set of standards to ensure guests are kept safe.
The fire safety standards apply to both hosted (where the owner resides on the premises) and non-hosted accommodation.
Short term rental accommodation can present different safety risks than long-term rentals because guests are less familiar with the building. The new fire safety standards for STRA are designed to account for this with enhanced early warning and extra safety measures.
What are the new fire safety rules?
The new rules set out mandatory standards for smoke and heat alarms, exit doors, portable fire extinguishers, fire blankets and evacuation diagrams.
Because of the increased risks for temporary guests, the new STRA rules have a couple of key differences from the smoke alarm requirements for long-term residential rental properties.
- Smoke alarms in STRA properties must be powered by either the mains electricity supply or a non-removable battery with a 10-year life expectancy
- All alarms in an STRA property must be interconnected
