Not-for-profit bowling club hit with 400 per cent rent increase

A not-for-profit Sydney bowling club is facing a Crown Lands rent increase of more than 400 per cent, after nearly 15 years of no rent redetermination.

Bondi Bowling Club in Sydney was delivered a notice of the increase by Crown Lands NSW recently.

As revealed by Ben Fordham on 2GB, after the increase the annual rent would lift from $22,000 per year to $95,000 per year.

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It's a blow that club president Matty Graham said they would struggle to cope with.

"It's going to really put a dampener on a lot of plans," he told Fordham.

"We've got a laundry list of renovations, we want to improve our disability access.

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"We might even have to think about closing a few days a week."

Graham said the club had less than a month to match the rent increase, but that he wasn't sure how it would go.

The Bondi Bowling Club is a not-for-profit run by volunteers, and has no pokies within its walls.

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"This is one of those clubs that's part of the heart of our community," Vaucluse MP Kelly Sloane said.

She said she had heard that similar clubs on Crown Lands across NSW had been slugged with "unreasonable" rent increases.

A spokesperson for NSW Lands and Property Minister said Crown Lands had contacted all property owners who had received a rent increase greater than 10 per cent to discuss the matter.

"In many cases we are looking at historic rents that haven't been touched in decades," the spokesperson said.

"For Bondi Bowling Club in particular their rent was last reviewed in 2009. Nearly 15 years ago."

Under the Crown Land Management Act 2016, rents had to be redetermined every five years to ensure they are in line with current market rates.

"Revenue raised from reestablishing market rents will go towards funding urgent and critical fire trail upgrades ahead of the bushfire season and addressing the backlog of contaminated land sites across the state," the spokesperson said.

"The overwhelming majority of leaseholders who are undergoing a rent redetermination are commercial entities."

The spokesperson said assistance was available to property owners.

Clubs on Crown Land are eligible for rent rebates depending on their earnings.

If they earn between $500,000 and $1 million in revenue they are entitled to a 20 per cent, concession and if they earn revenue under $500,000 they are entitled to a 50 per cent rebate.

9news.com.au understands the Bondi Bowling Club has until October 19 to apply for a rebate.