New South Wales Consolidated Regulations

STATE ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING POLICY (AFFORDABLE RENTAL HOUSING) 2009 - REG 50

50 Reduction of availability of affordable housing

(1) A person must not do any of the following in relation to a building to which this Part applies except with development consent--

(a) demolish the building,

(b) alter or add to the structure or fabric of the inside or outside of the building,

(c) change the use of the building to another use (including, in particular, a change of use to backpackers accommodation),

(d) if the building is a residential flat building, strata subdivide the building.

(2) In determining a development application referred to in subclause (1), the consent authority is to take into account the guidelines and each of the following--

(a) whether there is likely to be a reduction in affordable housing on the land to which the application relates,

(b) whether there is available sufficient comparable accommodation to satisfy the demand for such accommodation,

(c) whether the development is likely to cause adverse social and economic effects on the general community,

(d) whether adequate arrangements have been made to assist the residents (if any) of the building likely to be displaced to find alternative comparable accommodation,

(e) the extent to which the development contributes to any cumulative loss of affordable housing in the local government area,

(f) the structural soundness of the building, the extent to which the building complies with any relevant fire safety requirements and the estimated cost of carrying out work necessary to ensure the structural soundness of the building and the compliance of the building with the fire safety requirements,

(g) whether the imposition of a condition requiring the payment of a monetary contribution for the purposes of affordable housing would adequately mitigate the reduction of affordable housing resulting from the development,

(h) in the case of a boarding house, the financial viability of the continued use of the boarding house.

(3) For the purposes of subclause (2) (b), sufficient comparable accommodation is conclusively taken to be not available if the average vacancy rate in private rental accommodation for Sydney as published monthly by the Real Estate Institute of New South Wales is, for the 3 months immediately preceding the date of lodgment of the development application, less than 3 per cent.

(4) For the purposes of subclause (2) (h), the continued use of a boarding house is financially viable if the rental yield of the boarding house determined under clause 51 (5) not less than 6 per cent.