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.

NSW government launches new building defects guide.

The ‘Strata Defects Rectification Guide’ has been developed as a first point of call for current and future lot owners and stakeholders such as strata managers concerned about defects.

The online tool provides vital information helping to navigate the process of identifying, documenting, reporting and rectifying building defects in strata schemes.

Access to the guide is available here Strata Defects Rectification Guide

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 that an owners corporation can be served with legal documents at the address recorded on the common property certificate of title? Do you know if your common property certificate of title contains the proper address for service of legal documents on your owners corporation?

You want to make sure the proper address is recorded. In a recent case we saw, an owners corporation had not updated its address for service. Legal documents were sent to the old address and never passed on to the owners corporation. The NSW Civil & Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) made orders against the owners corporation in default of its appearance. The owners corporation only found out about the orders made against it after the orders were made!

So, how do you avoid this embarrassing situation? Common Property Certificate of Title Address

Read on to learn why you should make sure your current address is registered on your common property certificate of title as your address for service. Your current address may be either the address of your building or your strata manager’s address.

If you require help to update your address on your certificate of title please contact us.

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

Strata Managers are often unfairly the focus of criticism by lot owners, when something happens which those owners don’t like.

In some instances a dysfunctional owners corporation will have a compulsory strata manager appointed to try and get things back on track.

When a strata manager receives a request to put their name forward to be appointed as a compulsory strata manager it can be a difficult decision to make, as to whether to agree to put yourself forward.

The good news is that a recent NCAT Appeal Panel decision has provided some Helpful Guidance for Appointment of Compulsory Strata Managers.

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

A recent newspaper article concerning a Sydney residential complex where children have been banned from using a swimming pool within that complex, got us interested in taking a look at the extent to which the by-laws of a strata scheme or community scheme can be used to exclude children from using certain shared facilities in that scheme.

In the attached paper we reviewed the following areas concerning children, by-laws and shared facilities:

• Can children be excluded from shared facilities in a strata building or community scheme?
• For what matters can a strata by-law be made?
• Limitations on the matters of which a strata by-law can be made
• Model by-laws restricting children
• The position in NSW, Qld and Vic
• Community Scheme by-laws – A different position?
• Where a by-law is inconsistent with Anti-Discrimination legislation and discriminates against children on the grounds of age – Are these principles applicable to owners corporations?

So, can children be excluded from shared facilities? Children and By-laws in Strata and Community Schemes

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

One of the big ticket items introduced as part of the new strata laws that commenced in November 2016 was strata renewal or collective sales. These laws allow a strata building to be sold or redeveloped with the approval of at least 75% of owners.

However, many stakeholders in the strata industry including strata managers have needed clarification and clearer guidance in regards to the strata renewal and collective sale process.

Indeed, the industry has been looking for more practical and specific guidance from regulatory bodies on the implementation of strata renewal reforms.

In late 2018 new guidelines and resources were published by the Office of the Registrar General and can be found on their website.

If you’re looking for some guidance it’s a great first step. The website includes information about:

• preparation of a strata renewal plan
• strata renewal information sheet
• support notice relating to a strata renewal plan and withdrawal

The website also confirms that strata managers should now be making all inquiries with the Office of the Registrar General in relation to strata renewal (or collective sales) and NSW Fair Trading is no longer able to assist.

The Office of the Registrar General website outlines 6 steps for the strata renewal process as follows:

1. Vote to opt into the process
2. Initiate the collective sale/renewal process
3. Form a strata renewal committee
4. Develop a strata renewal plan
5. Consider the plan
6. Approval of the plan

For more information visit Office of the Registrar General or for more detailed legal advice please contact us here or call 02 9562 1266, we’re happy to assist.

One year later… what are the 5 biggest impacts of the new strata laws?

In this interview with LookUpStrata, Adrian Mueller, partner, JS Mueller & Co addresses the top 5 new strata laws and the changes to owners corporation fines and how they’ll affect you.

Click on the video below to view Adrian’s interview with Nikki from LookUpStrata as he discusses the following:

1. New Strata Laws in Relation to the Way in which Owners will be Able to Vote at Strata Meetings
2. Prohibition on Proxy Farming
3. Renovations
4. Undesirable Habits
5. Removing Abandoned Goods

And, body corporate fines and the 3 main changes.

The full article can be viewed at LookUpStrata.

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

In a recent decision, NCAT has confirmed that it does not have power to impose monetary penalties on persons who breach orders made by NCAT.

This decision highlights an important flaw in the new strata legislation which needs to be fixed.

Read on to find out more – NCAT Strata Disputes Floors and By-laws.docx

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

In a landmark ruling, NCAT has ordered an owners corporation to pay compensation to an owner for water damage to the owner’s unit caused by defects in the common property.

This ruling indicates that NCAT is able to resolve strata disputes by making compensation orders.

But has NCAT got it wrong? Read on to find out: NCAT Orders Owners Corporation to Pay Compensation

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

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.