This article is about the new NSW strata laws commencing in 2025.
On February 3, 2025, significant changes to strata laws will come into effect in New South Wales.
These reforms are designed to enhance transparency and accountability within the strata management sector. Whether you’re a strata property owner, a member of an owners corporation, or a strata manager, it’s crucial to understand these new regulations and how they will impact you.
Key Changes to Strata Laws
1. Increased Disclosure Requirements: Strata managers will now be required to provide more detailed and frequent disclosures to strata property owners. This includes:
- Connections with suppliers and developers
- Any commissions or training services received
- Detailed financial statements and reports
2. Enhanced Transparency: The new laws aim to ensure that strata managers act in the best interests of the owners corporations. By mandating comprehensive disclosures, the reforms seek to eliminate conflicts of interest and promote fairer management practices.
3. Penalties for Non-Compliance: Strata managers who fail to comply with the new disclosure requirements could face significant penalties. This underscores the importance of adhering to the new regulations and maintaining transparent operations.
Impact on Strata Property Owners
For strata property owners, these changes mean greater insight into the management of their properties. Owners will have access to more information, enabling them to make informed decisions and hold strata managers accountable.
What Strata Managers Need to Do
Strata managers should start preparing for these changes now. This includes:
- Reviewing and updating disclosure practices.
- Ensuring all financial and operational records are accurate and up-to-date.
- Communicating with owners corporations about the upcoming changes and how they will be implemented.
Conclusion
The new strata laws in NSW represent a significant step towards more transparent and accountable strata management. By understanding and complying with these changes, both strata managers and property owners can contribute to a fairer and more efficient strata system.
Adrian Mueller
JS Mueller & Co Lawyers
E: [email protected]
P: 02 9562 1266
This post appears in Strata News #727.
If you have a question or something to add to the article, please leave a comment below.
Disclaimer: The information contained in this article is provided for your personal information only. It is not meant to be legal or professional advice nor should it be used as a substitute for such advice. You should seek legal advice for your specific circumstances before relying on any information herein. Contact JS Mueller & Co for any required legal assistance.
JS Mueller & Co Lawyers has been servicing the strata industry across metropolitan and regional NSW for over 40 years. We are a specialist firm of strata lawyers with in depth and unmatched experience in, and comprehensive knowledge of strata law and levy collection.
Read next:
- NSW: Tough new strata laws pass Parliament
- NSW: Strata Managing Agents Legislation Amendment Act 2024
- NAT: Many strata managers who handle apartments are conflicted: here’s how
This article has been republished with permission from the author and first appeared on the JS Mueller & Co Lawyers website.
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I’m sorry nothing will really change as they still well mislead and continue not to disclose and charge ridiculous charges and fees.
At our last AGM it was contract renewal. Pervious tears we have been approve several fees not being charges, like Work orders and OH & S package. Other years this was pencilled on the contract. But this time the manager was away and not pencilled on the contract. Unfortunately a 3 year contract was signed,, expecting a reply on the above.
But no reply was received and the next thing I knew is we stated being charged all these fees. If I knew this then I personal wouldn’t have signed a 3 year contract.
Very poor open communication from our Stata managers.
One fee the OH & S fee we have never been charged., We are a small 3 bock townhouses. No Pool, Lift. Stairwell. Just a front and back lawn and a small front garden and a shrubs running on the western side of the driveway.
There fee in there schedule quotes its compulsory to have a plan. We never has and the Managers have never told us to get one. Its common sense we don’t need one. Nor can I see in the Act it is compulsory,
Yet we are being charged since July 2024 for a package that doesn’t exist.
So much for open and clear running of a Strata.
Kind regards
Penalties must be prioritised in implementing these new requirements. If managing agents face swift consequences for non-compliance, they will either adhere to the rules or step aside. Owners have a crucial role in urging their managing agents to comply, while the effectiveness of this system hinges on the relevant government agencies. If they can expedite the penalty process, it will be effective. However, if the process remains as lengthy and convoluted as the current path to NCAT, then it will merely be superficial.
I can forsee Strata Companies hiking their adminstration fees due to the added work load of disclosing more information as required, so what is a benefit on the one hand becomes an extra burden on the other. Potential penalties only exaserbate the issue.
3. Penalties for Non-Compliance: Strata managers who fail to comply with the new disclosure requirements could face significant penalties. This underscores the importance of adhering to the new regulations and maintaining transparent operations.
Have you ever tried to have, say, the OC penalized for non compliance for non compliance with a section that not only carries penalty points but is also a penalty notice office.
Most the legislation is window dressing and an announcement for the Minister so as to look like something is going on.
To think non compliance is something the State actually care about and police … that is not supported by data from the real world.
When Strata Managing Agents conspire with the Owners Corporation (OC), it leads to a lack of responsiveness towards the owners. We find ourselves in a situation where the Strata Managing Agent wields significant influence over the OC, resulting in overdue AGMs and a sense of helplessness. NCAT is now dominated by members with inflated egos, transforming it into a formal court process rather than the informal tribunal environment where individuals once felt at ease instead of intimidated. Managing Agents and OCs often hire solicitors at the owners’ expense, forcing owners to seek their own legal representation. The current system is nothing short of a farce.