For the first time, all strata schemes across NSW are now required to report key information each year using the new Strata Hub portal.

To help strata schemes navigate this change, the NSW Department of Customer Service is hosting a special strata sector event.

Strata Scheme Reporting Lunchtime Online Q&A Event

The lunch hour event features a Q&A panel discussion on what the new reporting requirements will mean for NSW strata communities. Expert panellists will answer your questions and share insights about the new strata scheme reporting.

When: Wednesday 20 July 2022 from 12 noon – 1pm.

The panel includes:

• John Minns – NSW Property Services Commissioner
• David Chandler OAM – NSW Building Commissioner
• Kerrie Burgess – Director, Digital & Program Delivery, Department of Customer Service
• Karen Stiles – Executive Officer, the Owners Corporation Network
• Stephen Brell – President, the Strata Community Association (NSW)

If you’d like to submit any questions to the panel in advance, please email: stratasystem@customerservice.nsw.gov.au

TO ATTEND REGISTER ONLINE BY 15 JULY 2022

Contact Us

For all strata law advice including by-laws, building defects and levy collections contact our specialist NSW and Sydney strata lawyers here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

A recent decision by NCAT has provided guidance on what needs to be done for an owners corporation to approve renovations done by an owner.

This case involved a dispute between the owners corporation of a large mixed use building in Milsons Point and the owner of a commercial lot in the building who wanted to fit-out his lot as an office involving alterations to common property.

The case produced a surprising outcome and is likely to change the practice that is followed by owners who seek owners corporation approval to renovate.

So, does a common property rights by-law authorise an owner to carry out works affecting the common property?

Here we share the case and outcomes: Get Your Renovations Approvals Right

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.

There have been a number of important key changes made to strata laws over the last 6 months.

This includes changes to legislation and recent court and NCAT decisions.

In this article we provide an overview of those key changes to help you get across them and make recommendations as to what you should do get the most out of them and to ensure you comply with them.

The article covers the following strata law key changes:

• Building Defects – duty of care
• Removing abandoned goods and illegally parked cars – the new rules
• Developer and common property rights by-laws
• No pets by-laws
• NCAT – can now award damages
• COVID-19 – strata regulations extended
• Short term rental accommodation – mandatory code of conduct

The full article and recommendations are available here An Overview of Recent Key Changes to Strata 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.

How will you respond to the recent decision of the Court of Appeal in the Cooper case which says that a by-law prohibiting pets is invalid?

Will you wait for the dust to settle before deciding what you will do?  Or will you act now and change any by-law that prohibits pets?

Any owners corporations that wait for the dust to settle following that decision before changing their pets by-law may well live to regret that decision.

In this article we take a closer look at each of different approaches and recommend why playing the waiting game could be your undoing.

Read the full article here: Why is it important to update your pets by-law NOW?

CONTACT US HERE TO REVIEW YOUR ‘NO’ PETS 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.

What would you think if you were told that NCAT could not order an owners corporation to carry out repairs to common property or order a lot owner or tenant to comply with a by-law?

No doubt you would think that could not be correct.

However, recent decisions by the Appeal Panel of NCAT have cast doubt on NCAT’s power to resolve most types of strata disputes.

So where does that leave us?

Read the full article here: Is NCAT’s Ability to Resolve Strata Disputes Unclear?

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.

There have been two recent court cases involving “squatter’s rights” over parcels of land in Sydney.

In both of those cases, people have acquired ownership of parcels of land they did not own through adverse possession by exercising “squatter’s rights”.

Both of these cases raise interesting questions for strata schemes:

• What are “squatter’s rights”?
• Can “squatter’s rights” exist in a strata scheme?
• Do the rules for “squatter’s rights” make it impossible for a person to claim ownership of part of the common property in strata scheme?
• Do those rules make it difficult for an owners corporation to claim ownership of a lot even if it has been abandoned?

Abandoned houses, “dunny lanes”, car spaces, storerooms and more: here we explain this complex area of law and share some recent cases – Squatters Rights in Strata Schemes.

For all NSW strata legal advice inclusive of by-laws, building defect and levy recovery advice please 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 rules released by NSW Land Registry Services due to COVID-19 allow by-laws to be registered electronically.

We have just registered the first consolidated set of by-laws electronically.

The process is faster and more streamlined than paper lodgement and is the way of the future.

If you would like to inquire about electronic registration of by-laws, please contact us.

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

Do New Strata Laws Thwart Anti-Airbnb By-Laws?

On 10 April 2020, new strata laws commenced. These laws clarify that an owners corporation is able to make a by-law that can prohibit a lot being used for a short-term rental accommodation arrangement in certain circumstances.

However, the new laws may have unintended consequences that invalidate or limit the reach of existing by-laws that prohibit short-term rental accommodation arrangements.

In this article we take a closer look at the new laws and their unintended consequences that seem to have been overlooked… Are new Strata Laws Anti-Airbnb By-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.

Government moves to help strata industry with further COVID-19 strata laws.

On 14 May 2020, new laws made by the NSW Parliament as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic commenced.  Those laws amended the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 and the Community Land Management Act 1989 to enable new regulations to be created to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the strata industry.

Electronic Voting and Meeting Notices

This means there will be power for new regulations to be released that will, for example, allow:

• Notices of meetings of a strata committee, owners corporation or community association to be served electronically even where there is presently no right to do so;
• Votes to be cast at meetings of a strata committee, owners corporation or community association electronically even if electronic voting has not been approved;
• The seal of an owners corporation or community association to be affixed to documents, and the witnessing of the affixing of the seal to be conducted, remotely;
• An extension of a time period in which a thing is required to be done under strata or community title laws.

The new regulations will be able to override a provision in the Strata Schemes Management Act or Community Land Management Act.  The new regulations have not yet been released.  It is expected that the regulations, once released, will remain in force for up to six months.

Electronic Signed and Sealed Documents

The regulations will provide a welcome relief to many strata managers, owners corporations and community associations.  Importantly, the regulations should allow meetings to be convened and held by electronic means and allow documents to be signed and sealed remotely.

The new regulations will enable strata committees, owners corporations and community associations to make legally enforceable decisions and continue to manage their affairs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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