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Posted 16 October 2023
Category: Strata
On 10 October 2023 the Strata Legislation Amendment Bill 2023 was tabled.
A copy can be obtained from the following link.
The bill reflects a number of proposed amendments to:
While the Bill is subject to amendment as it passes through the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly, the amendments themselves have previously been the subject of a report on the Statutory Review of the Strata Legislation, so it is not expected that there will be substantial amendments.
Some of the more interesting amendments to the current legislation include:
Strata Schemes Development Act 2015
Strata Renewal
Significant changes have been made to this process, including:
Subdivisions
Where a subdivision involves only small amount of common property, this amendment proposes to avoid the need to undertake a review of the unit entitlements for the entire strata scheme.
Strata Schemes Management Act 2015
Strata Managers
Imposing an obligation on managing agents to notify their owners corporation that their term of appointment is coming to an end at least three months before, and not earlier than 6 months before, the term will end.
Original Owner
Increasing the time required for the original owner to supply specified documents before the first annual general meeting to 14 days instead of 48 hours.
Strata Committees
Clarification that the committee can be appointed outside of an AGM.
Changing the threshold to remove a committee member to an ordinary resolution, rather than a special resolution and imposing a 12 month bar to their re-appointment.
Amendments to how the committee consider a disclosure of an interest by a committee member.
AGM’s
The notice period for Annual General Meetings is proposed to be 14 days, rather than the current 7.
Levies
Multiple Quotes
It is proposed to amend the requirements (currently only imposed on large strata schemes) to obtain two quotes in relation to works in excess of $30,000, so that they apply to all strata schemes, not just large schemes. The two quotes must also be from unrelated entities.
Restricting Pets and requiring Bonds
Amendments have been made to make it clear the pets cannot be restricted and a bond cannot be required in relation to approvals to have pets.
Clarification is also provided on what proof can be required that an animal is an assistance animal.
By-laws
An owners corporation can now just consolidate their current by-laws by special resolution even where they do not have any change of by-laws to register.
Records
6 months from when this amending bill becomes law, specified records of the owners corporation (including strata rolls) are to be kept in electronic form.
Proxies
The restrictions on the number proxies a person can hold are being extended to also apply to votes held by company nominees and powers of attorney.
Two Lot schemes
Certain amendments have been made in recognition of the different situation in two lot schemes, including:
Community Land Management Act 2021
The amendments to the Community Land Management Act 2021, include similar changes to the Strata Schemes Management Act, including in relation to:
***The information contained in this article is general information only and not legal advice. The currency, accuracy and completeness of this article (and its contents) should be checked by obtaining independent legal advice before you take any action or otherwise rely upon its contents in any way.