There are new rules an owners corporation must follow before appointing a lawyer or taking legal action (legal services).

If legal services:

• will not cost more than $3,000, or
• are urgent and will not cost more than $15,000, or
• relate to obtaining legal advice before taking legal action, or
• concern the collection of overdue levies,

the strata committee is able to approve those legal services: see section 103 Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 and cl 26 Strata Schemes Management Regulation 2016.

If the above applies, there is no need for an owners corporation or strata manager to send a lawyer’s costs agreement or costs disclosure to owners and committee members under section 105 Strata Schemes Management Act 2015.

The above assumes the power of the strata committee to obtain legal services or spend money has not been restricted at a general meeting and owners who hold 1/3 of the unit entitlements do not block a proposed decision of a strata committee to obtain legal services.

In all other cases, the owners corporation must approve of the legal services by passing a resolution at a general meeting in accordance with s 103(1) Strata Schemes Management Act 2015.

The new rules will reduce the scope for a strata committee to approve legal services as a result of the threshold amount to avoid general meeting approval reducing from $12,500 to $3,000 in most cases.

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

Bruce Bentley, Partner JS Mueller & Co presented this week at the REINSW Conference 2014 on ‘Trading Within Your Strata Management Agency Agreement’. To see a copy of Bruce’s presentation please click the link below.

Click here to view the full presentation – Trading within your Strata Management Agency Agreement

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

Bruce Bentley, Partner JS Mueller & Co presented this week at the REINSW Conference on ‘Trading Within your Strata Management Agency Agreement‘.

To view the presentation please click here – Trading within your Strata Management Agency Agreement

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

The Department of Communications has released an information note to assist building owners and managers to make informed decisions when selecting a telecommunications carrier to install equipment to enable the building to connect to the National Broadband Network.

The Department recommends that building owners and managers consider whether:

• the service provider’s proposal will provide building occupants with a choice of providers and competition into the future
• building occupants will be locked into the decision to use the service provider for a fixed period or in perpetuity
• other carriers will be able to install competing cabling in the future
• carriers are correctly advising on their rights to access facilities, particularly in respect to in-building cabling
• the service provider’s proposal is consistent with pre-existing contracts with other providers, and
• the service provider has a clear plan for managing possible interference with existing services
• consider lease and licence agreements

For the full article please click here – NBN Broadband in Strata

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

Sydney Water announces that the new requirements for new multi-level strata buildings will come into effect on 1 September 2014. Buildings from 1 September 2014 must be designed and built to cater for water metering of individual units.

These requirements will apply to relevant development applications that receive a Sydney Water Notice of Requirements (NOR), announcing that three key areas must be adhered to when designing new multi-level strata buildings:

1. Allow for plumbing for a single water inlet to each individual unit.
2. Individual meters must be located in the common area (not inside units).
3. There may also need to be a space and power supply for data loggers to enable them to transmit meter reads to Sydney Water.

In the coming months, Sydney Water will also announce the list of Accredited Metering Suppliers.

For further information please refer to Sydney Water’s draft Multi-Level Individual Metering Guide or contact meters@sydneywater.com.au.

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

The Building and Construction Industry Security Of Payment Amendment Act 2013 is proclaimed to commence on 21 April 2014.

The Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 was amended by the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Amendment Act 2013. The amendments will not apply to construction contracts entered into before 21 April 2014. The Act applies to all construction contracts entered into by owners corporations for work on the common property.

The principal changes which affect owners corporations are as follows:

• Owners corporations will now be a principal under the main contract with the head contractor.
  A progress payment is to be made by a principal to a head contractor 15 business days after a payment claim is made or such earlier date as may be provided by the contract.
• It is no longer possible to contractually extend the period for the making of the payment.
  The contractor is no longer required to endorse a payment claim made under the Act in any way. This means that you must treat every invoice or payment claim under a construction contract or any construction arrangement as being subject to the Act.
• You will need to immediately enquire from your principal on receipt of any invoice for construction work, whether there is a dispute in relation to payment and, if there is, ensure that a payment schedule is prepared and served on the contractor within 15 business days of receipt of the invoice. Failure to do so will remove any right to withhold any part of the payment claim.
• Head contractors must now serve a supporting statutory statement with a payment claim which must include a declaration to the effect that all subcontractors have been paid.
• Failure to serve a supporting statement leaves the head contractor liable to a fine up to $22,000.00 but does not invalidate the payment claim.

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