Be aware that the deadline for owners corporations to review their by-laws under the new Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 is fast approaching with only 66 business days remaining.

The Act states that owners corporations have 12 months to review and register any current by-laws. This means every owners corporation must review their by-laws by the deadline of 30 November 2017.

For the next 66 business days, owners corporations that have not already done so are meant to consider whether to:

• Introduce new by-laws
• Amend any existing by-laws
• Repeal any by-laws

At JS Mueller & Co we have done hundreds of by-law reviews since the commencement of the new Act. We often recommend that new by-laws should be considered for the following topics:

• Airbnb
• Smoking
• Minor Renovations
• Major Renovations
• Common Property Memorandum
• Proxies
• Electronic Voting

Plan Ahead NOW. Don’t wait until it is too late.

Fixed Fee By-laws

Get your by-law review done now.We can review your by-laws in detail, suggest amendments to the existing by-laws and recommend new by-laws. We do all of that for a fixed fee. for your fixed fee by-laws.

Click here NOW for a fixed fee by-law review.

Template By-laws

We have developed a range of by-laws that cover various topics.

Order a copy of our by-law templates here NOW Strata By-law Templates

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

Can an owners corporation be forced to make modifications for disabled residents in its strata scheme?

Does it depend on the specific circumstances of each strata scheme?

Read on to find out: Strata Disabled Access

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

An NCAT decision allowing a lot owner to keep unauthorised renovations was recently overturned by the Supreme Court.

In doing so, the Court confirmed that an owners corporation must act unreasonably before NCAT should overturn a decision of an owners corporation not to allow an owner to keep unauthorised alterations to common property.

Read on to find out why Supreme Court Quashes NCAT Decision to Allow Unauthorised Works

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

The Supreme Court has decided that structural defects under the old home building legislation do not extend to cover building elements such as waterproofing membranes and tiling attached to structural components of the building.

This is bad news for owners corporations of residential buildings who made home warranty insurance claims or defect claims against builders and developers before 2015 that are still current because it will essentially limit the scope for them to argue that defects are structural defects that are covered by a six year warranty instead of the two year warranty for non-structural defects.

For owners corporations of residential buildings, this is bad news – Strata and Structural Defects.

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

Do explanatory notes need to be included in the agenda of a general meeting of an owners corporation?  The answer might surprise you.

Since the commencement of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 on 30 November 2016, a practice has arisen for explanatory notes to be included in an agenda of a general meeting of an owners corporation.  The purpose of the explanatory notes is to provide a brief explanation of the purpose of each motion that appears on the meeting agenda.

But are these explanatory notes necessary? Click here to find out – Are Strata Meeting Explanatory Notes Required

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

Can the strata committee approve repairs which alter, add to or improve common property?

The strata committee is generally able to organise maintenance and repairs to the common property. But what happens when maintenance or repairs alter, add to or improve the common property? Can the strata committee approve work of that type without the authority of a special resolution passed at a general meeting?

Read the full legal analysis here – Common Property Maintenance / Alterations

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

Frustrated with the current challenge to register your by-laws?

The good news is that JS Mueller & Co has been in communication with Land and Property Information NSW (LPI) regarding the current backlog. We‘ve been advised that LPI is fully aware of the issue and are currently working on a solution which will be announced soon.

In the meantime, if you require any assistance with the registration of by-laws, please do not hesitate to contact us on the details below, and we’ll assist you through this process.

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

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.

Current NSW strata laws can make it challenging for owners to carry out minor renovations to their lot, however, come 30 November 2016, there’s good news as the new reforms will provide clearer, common sense approvals for owner renovations.

The new laws will recognise three kinds of renovations:

1. Cosmetic – strata owners will be able to carry out cosmetic work with no approval
2. Minor – a simple majority resolution will be required to approve minor renovations
3. Major – a special resolution and approval is required for major work

Read the Works By-laws and NCAT paper here or purchase your Strata By-law and Meeting Notice Templates now!

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