In a recent case NCAT has penalized an owners corporation $6,600 for breaching an order to repair common property defects.

However, due to a quirk in the strata legislation, before NCAT could impose that penalty, the lot owners who sough the penalty had to obtain the consent of the NSW Attorney General to make the penalty application.

The case highlights the importance of new laws in the Strata Schemes Management Amendment (Sustainability Infrastructure) Bill 2021 that are expected to commence later this year that will give NCAT power to issue penalties of up to $5,500.00 (without the consent of the NSW Attorney General) for breaching orders made by NCAT.

Read on…NCAT dishes our punishment for order breaches

For all NSW strata legal including by-laws, building defect and levy collection advice contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

The Strata Schemes Management Amendment (Sustainability Infrastructure) Bill 2021 is expected to commence in mid-2021.

Overview of New Laws

The key features of the Bill are as follows:

1. An owners corporation will be able to authorise the installation of sustainability infrastructure (such as solar panels) on common property by passing an ordinary resolution.

2. Any decision by an owners corporation that would unreasonably prohibit the keeping of an animal on a lot will have no force or effect.

3. It will be possible for a by-law to prohibit the keeping of an animal (such as a dangerous dog) on a lot if that prohibition is reasonable.

4. An owners corporation will need to keep voting records regarding a secret ballot confidential unless directed to make those records available for inspection by a court or NCAT.

5. NCAT will need to provide a copy of any strata application that is lodged by any person to the owners corporation of the strata scheme concerned.

6. An owners corporation will need to serve a copy of any NCAT application it receives on each owner instead of just placing a copy of the application on the noticeboard.

7. NCAT will have the power to require a person to pay a penalty of up to $5,500.00 for breaching an order made by NCAT.

8. A person who owns more than one lot in a strata scheme will be able to appoint a single proxy in respect of all of the lots (to prevent the limitation on the number of proxies a person can hold stopping this from occurring).

9. A proxy appointment form for a meeting will still be valid even if the meeting is adjourned to a later date.

Conclusion

These new laws will make it easier for owners corporations and owners to install solar panels and implement other “green” initiatives, clarify the validity of “no pets” by-laws and close a loop hole in the strata legislation that prevented NCAT imposing penalties on people who breach orders.

For all NSW strata legal including by-laws, building defect and levy collection advice contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

Warwick van Ede, NSW Law Society Accredited Specialist in property law, and senior lawyer at JS Mueller & Co Lawyers, has been appointed a member of the Property Law Committee of the Law Society of NSW for 2021 due to his extensive expertise in property and strata law.

Have Your Say Strata!

For all NSW strata legal including by-laws, building defect and levy collection advice contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

Hot off the press!

Warwick van Ede, a NSW Law Society Accredited Specialist in property law, and senior lawyer at JS Mueller & Co Lawyers, has been appointed a member of the Property Law Committee of the Law Society of NSW for 2021 due to his expertise in property and strata law.

An experienced lawyer of almost 30 years, Warwick specialises in litigation, property and strata law, with a focus on NSW.

Warwick has appeared, often as advocate, in all Courts and Tribunals across NSW representing clients at NCAT, the Supreme Court, and Federal Court of Australia and in lower Courts.

JS Mueller & Co Lawyers are proud of Warwick’s achievement and are confident Warwick will be an excellent committee member providing sound policy input and advice using his specialist knowledge and experience in the area of property and strata law.  Warwick’s appointment also recognises the expertise held by the team at JS Mueller & Co in property and strata law.

By drawing on the insights of expert committee members such as Warwick, the Law Society is able to act as a major player in law reform and policy debates including in relation to strata law. We look forward to Warwick making a valuable contribution to law reform in the strata space.

To view Warwick’s full profile click here.

For all NSW strata legal including by-laws, building defect and levy collection advice contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

Did you know there are 81,717 strata schemes registered in NSW and every year this number grows by more than 1,000 across Sydney and regional NSW?

That’s why the NSW government has recently recognised the importance of strata living laws and the need to ensure that they stay relevant and address some fundamental issues that have arisen since the laws were re-written in 2015.

An online survey has been developed and the NSW Government is asking you to ‘have your say’ here now.

For all NSW strata legal including by-laws, building defect and levy collection advice contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

On 20 October 2020 the Department of Fair Trading announced the mandatory ‘Code of Conduct’ for the short-term rental accommodation arrangements (STRAs).

This Code of Conduct was published in the Government Gazette on 28 October 2020 and is scheduled to commence on 18 December 2020, just in time for the Christmas/New Year festive season and school holidays.

Your strata scheme should take this opportunity to read the ‘Code of Conduct’ and to consider reviewing and if needed, updating its short term rental accommodation by-laws.

This will ensure the changes made to legislation governing this space in April 2020 and now with the publication of the new mandatory ‘Code of Conduct’ are covered.

Especially as the festive season and school holidays are just around the corner – 38 working days until Christmas Day!

In this paper we review the Short Term Rental Accommodation New Code of Conduct

Did you know there are only 38 working days until Christmas day? To ensure the right short term rental accommodation by-laws are in place for the festive season click below now and we’ll be in touch.

Short Term Rental Accommodation By-law

For all NSW strata legal including by-laws, building defect and levy collection advice contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

On 10 June 2020, the New South Wales Government made new laws regulating the construction of apartment buildings.

Those new building defect laws commenced on 1 September 2020 and will have a significant impact on all owners corporations and the strata industry.

In this paper we discuss the new laws and how they will impact the strata industry including:

• Occupation Certificates
• Stop Work Orders
• Rectification Orders
• Delegation of Powers
• Retrospectivity

Read the full paper here: New Laws that will have a significant impact on the Strata Industry.

For all NSW strata legal, by-law, building defect and levy collection advice contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

Get Your By-Laws Checked: New Rules for Abandoned Goods and Vehicles on Strata Properties

On 1 July 2020, the NSW legislation for abandoned goods on strata properties moved to the Uncollected Goods Act 1995 and will therefore no longer be regulated under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 and strata regulations.

This means what can be done to dispose of or sell abandoned goods on common property in NSW strata buildings has changed.

A Quick Summary of the New Rules for Abandoned Goods

1.The Uncollected Goods Act 1995 (Act) is the law that now governs goods and vehicles abandoned on common property within strata properties in NSW.

2. The Act divides abandoned goods into six categories with different rules and procedure applying to each category. The six categories are:

• • Perishable
  • Low Value
  • Medium Value
  • High Value
  • Personal Documents and Memorabilia
  • Motor Vehicles (an owners corporation can move vehicles that it reasonably believes have been abandoned on common property)

3. A person disposing of the abandoned goods will not be liable for doing so if they follow the procedures set out in the Act. This includes disposing of abandoned goods in accordance with an order made by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) as NCAT has the power to order the disposal and management of the goods.

4. Under the Act, uncollected goods including any goods that owners reasonably believe to be abandoned or left behind on common property.

5. Appropriate records of the sale or disposal of the abandoned goods must be kept by the party disposing the goods and who it went to as follows:

• • Low value items documentation must be kept for at least 12 months
  • Higher value items plus their records must be kept for at least 12 years

6. If you don’t know the person who owns the abandon goods, you should make a reasonable effort to identify the owner of the goods and communicate with them.

7. The strata committee can request that additional expenses for removing, storing, maintaining or insuring the goods are covered.

8. A person cannot confiscate and refuse to return the goods because the owner owes money for other debts, such as rent or levies.

9. For more information visit Fair Trading NSW ‘uncollected goods and vehicles in strata schemes’.

10. You will need to update your abandoned goods and vehicle by-laws to ensure they are in line with these new laws.

For NSW strata legal, by-law, building defect and levy collection advice contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

New building bond and building defect laws commence today, 1 July 2020.

The new laws are part of the NSW Government’s promise to “get tough” on building defects and form part of a suite of new laws that have recently been introduced to combat the spate of poorly built strata buildings.

These new laws will strengthen the rights of owners corporations to make claims against builders, developers and other to have defects repaired or obtain compensation to cover the cost of repairing defects.

That Act introduces new laws with respect to the rectification of building defects in new strata buildings. In this article we take a look at those new laws:

• The New Laws and the Buildings They Apply to
• Changing Due Dates for Payment of Building Bonds
• Consequences for Failing to Provide a Building Bond and Increased Penalties
• Offences for Developers Providing False/Misleading Information
• Using Building Bonds to Pay Other Costs
• Extending  the Time Frame for Building Bond Claims
• Cancelling a Building Bond
• Recovering of the Building Bond from Developers
• Investigation and Enforcement Powers
• Protection of Building Inspectors from Personal Liability
• Forcing Developers to Provide Information to Inspectors

Here we outline the new laws New Building Bond and Defect Laws.

For NSW strata legal, building defects and levy collection advice please contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

New ‘duty of care’ laws makes all participants in building work responsible for fixing building defects!

Passed by the NSW Parliament in early June 2020, the new building laws will have a significant impact on people that own and live in strata buildings and any person involved in property development and construction in NSW.

The new laws apply to both existing buildings built in the last ten years and also to the construction of new buildings going forward.

Those laws will give many owners corporations rights they did not previously have.

Here we explain the Building Defects New Duty of Care Laws and what actions strata managers can take now!

For NSW strata legal, building defects and levy collection advice please contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.