NSW strata laws due for shake up in 2013
A review of NSW strata and community title laws will be conducted next year, following a public consultation process.
Global Access Partners, which is sponsored by the NSW government, is hosting community consultation online. NSW fair trading minister Anthony Roberts said the GAP initiative would provide information for the government’s review of strata and community title laws next year.
Mr Roberts said strata was now the fastest growing form of residential property ownership in the state.
More than 2 million people lived in over 70,000 strata and 1500 community schemes in NSW, while half the NSW population was expected to be living in strata and community schemes within 20 years. Strata and community schemes include city high-rises, townhouses, dual occupancies, offices, retirement villages and mixed-use, recreational and tourism-focused developments.
The last review of the Strata Schemes Management Act was carried out in 2004 and a review of the Community Land Management Act was last conducted in 2006 but the government said only ”cosmetic reforms” were achieved.
Mr Roberts said the original strata and community title laws, dating from 1961, were designed for small, self-managed blocks of flats and reform was needed to “more effectively meet the diverse needs of today’s owners and residents”.
“The laws are outdated, and no longer effectively support owners in the day-to-day management of their scheme or address the issues associated with ageing buildings, changing demographics and accountability for annual budgets that can amount to millions of dollars,” he said.
Strata Community Australia (NSW) president David Ferguson said it would propose the harmonisation of laws across Australia to make it easier for those owning, living or working in the strata and community industry.
Tenants should be allowed to attend owners’ corporation meetings to give renters a much greater say in how their strata buildings are managed and maintained. There should also be changes to the legislation to stop the misuse of bylaws, such as banning pets from buildings, as part of the state government’s review of the strata laws, according to Cathy Sherry, a senior lecturer in law at the University of NSW.
”Tenants are often much more connected to the building than an absent investor-owner,” she said. ”Owners obviously need to have a say because they are the ones that own the buildings but there should also be a way to give renters a say, so perhaps that could be renters collectively getting one vote or a tenants’ forum.”
Chris Martin, the senior policy officer with the Tenants’ Union of NSW, said strata bylaws were often the biggest problem faced by tenants, especially those banning pets in buildings or delays in repairs to common areas.
”About half the people living in strata are tenants so generally we would be supportive of tenants being given more of a say,” he said.
A limit on proxies is also an effective way of forcing people to reach decisions by consensus rather than by power play and conflict. Queensland allows an owner a maximum of 5% of the total votes. In NSW an owner can hold as many proxies as can be assembled, so one person could effectively control the operations of a strata property, often to the detriment of its governance and the wellbeing of other residents.
Construction of attached dwellings overtook separate houses in 1994 and apartments, units and townhouses now comprise more than half the home stock in central and inner Sydney, as well as a growing proportion of the middle and outer suburbs.
As the older of Sydney’s high-rise stratas move into their fifth decade and begin to show the effects of old age and poor management, it is time the government mandated five- to seven-yearly building inspections and capital works programs.
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