NSW strata law changes: 75% rule
Under new laws due to come into force on 1 July next year, NSW apartment owners may have to sell their units so the strata scheme can be demolished and replaced with a newer building.
At present, every single owner in a strata building in NSW has to agree to sell their unit before the strata scheme can be demolished and replaced with a newer building. But the threshold will be reduced to 75% of owners that can force the balance to sell up.
”Nobody wants to see anyone being thrown out of their homes,” said Gerry Chia, secretary of the Owners Corporation Network, the peak body representing strata owners in NSW. ”But if this can be done in a way that is fair and equitable, with checks and balances that are open and transparent, then it could be a good thing.”
Fair trading minister Anthony Roberts says the proposal states that, as of next year, it will only require a 75% vote to move everyone out, pull the building down and start again. The vote will be based on ”one unit, one vote” instead of unit entitlements, a figure related to the size and value of apartments that is the usual basis for major strata decisions.
However, safeguards are apparently planned, including independent valuations, and there is talk of an ”extinguishment commissioner” who will hear appeals against unfair payments.
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