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Pest control Central Coast
Guide 3 of 6

Five working days’ notice in a Central Coast unit block

In NSW, residents of a multiple-occupancy block must have at least five working days' notice from whoever organises a pest management technician for treating the common areas. The rules do not apply to a single house or a duplex. This guide sets out who owes the notice, when it is owed, and the one case where it is not.

Where this sits on the waterline ›

The Central Coast’s water, north to south: Lake Macquarie, the Tuggerah Lakes with Lake Munmorah, Budgewoi Lake and Tuggerah Lake, the four coastal lagoons, Brisbane Water and the Hawkesbury River, in the order Central Coast Council lists them; the houses and the bush edge above them; and the six places named for the mosquito count, April 2023. Each guide has its place here and opens from it. The funnel-web’s northern end Australian Museum Animals at the back fence NSW Environment and Heritage NSW Health: ticks live in humid, moist, bushy areas the houses along the water The house The units Arbovirus season, usually November to April Central Coast Local Health District The water at home North South about 190 hectares of saltmarsh along the Coast’s water Lake Macquarie Lake Munmorah Budgewoi Lake Tuggerah Lake Tuggerah Lakes meets the sea at The Entrance Wamberal Terrigal Avoca Cockrone Brisbane Water runs south to Broken Bay Hawkesbury River Named for the mosquito count, April 2023 Central Coast Local Health District Empire Bay Halekulani Long Jetty North Avoca Ourimbah Pearl Beach NSW Health’s arbovirus surveillance page explains how the state watches each season Drawn in order, not to scale

The notification rules on this page are the NSW Environment Protection Authority's and the state's strata guidance, from the pages linked in the footer.

The rule in one line

The EPA's fact sheet for owners, strata managers and property managers states the duty plainly: under the Pesticides Regulation 2017, at least five working days' notice must go to residents when a pest management technician is organised to treat the common areas of a multiple-occupancy residential complex.

The state's guidance on safety rules for strata common property puts the same duty in a shorter form: residents must have at least five days' notice before any pesticide is used. For a strata scheme, it adds that the owners corporation must give residents at least five days' notice before any pesticides are used on inside or outside common areas.

Two words are doing the work in the first version: five working days. The EPA's fact sheet counts the notice in working days, and it is the safer of the two to plan around, since a weekend does not count toward it.

The notice, from the booking to the day

The regulation's timetable is short.

  1. The bookingWhoever organises a pest management technician for treating the common areas of the block is the one who owes residents the notice.
  2. At least five working days beforeNotice goes to residents. The EPA states the consequence of skipping it: the pesticide application cannot go ahead unless five working days' notice has been given to residents.
  3. The day of the treatmentThe pesticides are applied to inside or outside common areas, and every resident has already had the notice the regulation requires.
  4. In an emergencyNo five working days' notice is required for pesticide treatments made in emergency situations. The technician then has to tell residents immediately before the pesticide goes on, and the circumstances of the emergency go into the technician's records.

What counts as an emergency

The EPA's fact sheet counts as an emergency an infestation of pests that bite or are dangerous and may put residents' health or safety at immediate risk: bees, wasps, rodents, bird mites or venomous spiders, for example.

It also makes clear what replaces the notice on those days: telling the residents just before the pesticide goes on, and a note of the circumstances, so that the emergency route is a documented route rather than an exception claimed afterwards.

Which buildings the rule covers

This is a multiple-occupancy rule. The fact sheet counts blocks of three or more residences, whether units, flats, townhouses or villas, and caravan parks with long-term residents. The EPA's fact sheet says these rules do not cover dual occupancies, duplexes or single residences, so a single house, and a dual occupancy or a duplex pair, sit outside it.

The test in the fact sheet is the treatment of the common areas of a multiple-occupancy residential complex. For the owner or tenant of a unit in such a block, the notice is a right rather than a courtesy.

If the notice is not given

The EPA warns that strict penalties may apply where a person is unable to show evidence that notification was provided before pesticides were applied, as the regulation requires.

Its fact sheet says a fine may be issued on the spot: $1000 for a corporation, $500 for an individual.

The practical form of the rule is the one to remember: no notice, no application. If a technician arrives without the five working days having been given, the application itself is not allowed to proceed.

Who may do the treatment the notice is about

The notice is a resident's half of a bargain whose other half is the licence: the law requires a licence for prescribed pesticide work, and the NSW Environment Protection Authority is the body that issues it. The authority's public register takes a name or a licence number, and the EPA's own page on engaging a pest management technician is where the search is done.

What this guide leaves out is on purpose. It does not tell a reader how to treat anything, or what to use; those decisions belong to a licensed technician and a product label, and the notice is the piece that protects everyone else in the building while they are made.

The Central Coast’s water, drawn for a phone with north at the top: Lake Macquarie, the Tuggerah Lakes with Lake Munmorah, Budgewoi Lake and Tuggerah Lake, the four coastal lagoons, Brisbane Water and the Hawkesbury River, in the order Central Coast Council lists them; the six places named for the mosquito count, April 2023; the houses along the water; and the bush edge behind them, at the northern end of the funnel-web’s main range. Each guide has its place here and opens from it. The watching season › When it runs, who counts Arbovirus season, usually November to April Central Coast Local Health District North Lake Macquarie Tuggerah Lakes Lake Munmorah Budgewoi Lake Tuggerah Lake meets the sea at The Entrance The coastal lagoons Wamberal, Terrigal, Avoca and Cockrone Brisbane Water runs south to its mouth at Broken Bay Hawkesbury River South in the order Central Coast Council lists them Named for the mosquito count, April 2023 Empire Bay Halekulani Long Jetty North Avoca Ourimbah Pearl Beach NSW Health’s arbovirus surveillance pageexplains how the state watches each season the houses along the water The house ›Termites The units ›Five working days’ notice The water at home ›Mosquitoes in the yard the bush edge The funnel-web’s northern end ›Funnel-webs and ticks Animals at the back fence ›Possums, rabbits, mynas NSW Health: ticks live in humid, moist, bushy areas The water drawn north to south, not to scale