NSW strata law reforms come into effect

Once-in-a-generation reforms to the state’s strata title laws come into effect today, to reflect contemporary strata living and to cater for future demand.

Source: stratalaws.nsw.gov.au

The reforms include more than 90 changes to the laws and affect 1.2 million people living in over 75,000 strata schemes across NSW.

Key changes include:

• Providing a flexible and fair mechanism for collective sale and renewal;
• Making it easier for owners to complete cosmetic and minor renovations;
• Modernising rules to help prevent proxy farming;
• New provisions addressing the perennial issues of parking, pets and smoke drift; and
• Introducing a defects bond (to come into effect July 2017) to fix building defects early in new developments.

“By 2040 about half of people in NSW will either be living or working in strata. We need modern and flexible laws that reflect 21^st century strata living,” Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation Victor Dominello said.

“The last major amendments to strata law happened 20 years ago – the face of our state has changed dramatically since then and the new laws better reflect the way people live and work in 2016 and beyond.”

The reforms follow extensive public consultation over a five year period, with more than 3,000 submissions received from the public and stakeholder groups.

To learn more about the new laws and how it affects you, visit www.stratalaws.nsw.gov.au or call the Strata Hotline on 1800 214 023.