Land lease home owners press for urgency on legislative reforms for site repairs

A home owner in one community was required to spend over $15,000 to replace a major retaining wall to make the site safe and fit for habitation. 

Last year the Tenants’ Union of NSW received an increasing volume of enquiries about significant site repairs. For a number of home owners the need for major site repairs has been becoming unmanageable and detrimental to their homes. 

The concerns home owners hold are directly related to the Residential (Land Lease) Communities Act 2013 (RLLC Act), being silent about responsibility for ongoing repairs and maintenance. Operators assert that they can lawfully refuse to accept responsibility for most ongoing site repairs because of section 37(1)(k) RLLC Act. For many years now this situation has put home owners in need of site repairs in an unfair position of deciding to carry out costly repairs or incur the risks of going without them when the cost is too prohibitive. 

Background to the Legislative Situation: 

The Residential Parks Act 1998 (RP Act) which previously governed land lease communities was repealed on the 31st October 2015. 

Section 24 of the RP Act covered site repairs and used to provide for an operator’s ongoing responsibility to maintain the site: 

24   Park owner’s responsibility for cleanliness and repairs 

(1) It is a term of every residential tenancy agreement that: 

(a) the park owner must provide the residential premises (for instance, the moveable dwelling and the residential site or the residential site only) and the common areas of the residential park in a reasonable state of cleanliness and fit for habitation by the resident, and 

(b) the park owner must provide and maintain the residential premises in a reasonable state of repair, having  regard to the age of, rent payable for and prospective life of the premises. 

(2) In this section: residential premises includes everything provided with the premises, for use by the resident, under the residential tenancy agreement. 

On the 1st of November 2015 the Residential (Land Lease) Communities Act 2013 (RLLC Act) commenced, replacing the RP Act. However an operator’s ongoing responsibility for repairs and maintenance to sites was not explicitly expressed in the equivalent section 37(1)(k) of the RLLC Act. 

37   Operator’s responsibilities 

(1)  The operator of a community has the following responsibilities – 

(k)  to ensure a residential site is in a reasonable condition, and fit for habitation, at the commencement of a site agreement for the site 

In November of 2021 the five-year statutory review of the RLLC Act, was tabled in the NSW Parliament and there was recognition of the diminished site repair protections afforded to home owners. There are three directly relevant recommendations in the statutory review pertaining to site repairs: 

Recommendation 30:  Clarify that operators should be required to ensure a site is safe, in a reasonable condition and fit for habitation, and that operators are responsible for maintaining infrastructure that forms part of the structure of the site and cannot be removed. 

Recommendation 31: Require home owners to keep the site they occupy in a clean and tidy condition and be responsible for damage they have caused to the site (beyond fair wear and tear).  

Recommendation 32: Undertake further consultation on how these general principles about site maintenance and repair should be expressed in the Act, and whether it is necessary to list specific aspects of site maintenance and repair for which the operator is responsible. 

In 2022 the Tenants’ Union and other key stakeholders were asked to comment on the first draft of the Residential (Land Lease) Communities Amendment Bill. 

The Bill resulted in 21 out of 48 of the Recommendations being enacted and was referenced as ‘Phase 1’ of implementation of the Statutory Review. The Tenants’ Union had expected it would cover responsibility for site repairs and maintenance. 

In March 2023 the Tenants’ Union and other key stakeholders responded to the Government’s targeted consultation paper, which included consultation about recommendations relevant to site repair slated for ‘Phase 2’. 

In 2024 contact from home owners about their prolonged time under hardship prompted the Tenants’ Union to release a briefing paper asking for an Urgent Amendment Bill. 

The paper was provided to the Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading as well as the NSW Strata & Property Services Commissioner in November 2025. 

Residents and resident advocates also ensured the briefing paper was circulated across their own electorates and communicated examples of detriment experienced by their own communities with their local Members of parliament.

The Tenants’ Union can report that since the briefing paper was released NSW Fair Trading has initiated further discussions and targeted consultation with key stakeholders and we hope that the additional advocacy work by resident committees, associations and advocates will expedite the necessary changes. 

Discussion About Site Repairs is an Ongoing One 

We have heard from home owners who have site repair issues ranging from retaining walls at risk of falling, site subsidence causing homes to crack and walls to warp, inadequate drainage causing mould and uninhabitable living conditions, fences that are bowing and tree roots that compromise driveways and paths. 

The time that has lapsed since losing what the Tenants’ Union considers were adequate site repair protections under the RP Act – repealed over 10 years ago – has created space for inconsistent and unfair drafting of additional terms in site agreements or other written agreements that relate to the use of a site. Terms being implemented by operators during this time have blurred the lines of separation where the home owner is responsible for their home and its additional fixtures and the operator is responsible for the site and its infrastructure. Some examples we have learned about include: 

• Contracts for the sale of a home owned by an operator, which include purchasing site infrastructure needed for the site to be fit for use. 
• Additional terms in a site agreement or otherwise community rules which shift responsibility and/or ownership of site infrastructure to the home owner. 
• Deeds for the relocation of a home where the operator requires hardscaping for the site to be left behind even if the home owner had been deemed the owner or person responsible for ongoing site repairs and maintenance in their site agreement.

The ongoing discussion with home owners about site repairs has given us better insight into what home owners want the future amendments to the RLLC Act to achieve: 

• Clarity around the separation of ownership and responsibility for the home they purchase and the site it is located on. 
• Better administration and record keeping about the condition and additions to the site from the commencement though to the end of their site agreement. 
• Clear laws that assign responsibility for ongoing site repairs to the operator (unless the home owner has caused or permitted the issue). 
• Preventative steps they can take to ensure their homes stay safe from damage caused by issues with the site.
• Regulations that separately manage site repairs that home owners need, from additions and alterations to the site that a home owner wants.
• Avenues for dispute resolution such as the ability to apply to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal for orders about the repair itself, any damage caused to the home, a reduction in site fees or compensation for losses incurred. 
• Home owners who have been forced to make an addition or alteration to address a site repair issue, and others who have unfairly become owners of site infrastructure want equitable protections as other home owners will have under the proposed amendments. In submissions to NSW Fair Trading, the Tenants’ Union has advocated for the legislature to account for the very people who have experienced the impact of the existing gap in legislation. 

Recommendations 30 to 32 from the statutory review propose to return to the naturally fairer system where ongoing site repairs and maintenance are the operator’s responsibility unless the home owner has caused or permitted the damage. 

The Tenants’ Union invites home owners to continue sharing their site repair issues to inform our advocacy work on how general principles about site repairs and maintenance should be expressed in the RLLC Act. If you have a site repair issue you want to share with the Tenants’ Union, email us, attention to Amanda Elgazzar.