Strata legislation changes as of 30th November, 2016

There are more than 90 reforms being made but some of those will be more relevant to developers than others. One of the main reforms which has been reported widely in the media is the strata renewal process. The new legislation sets out the steps and regulations around redeveloping strata schemes which have effectively passed their use by date.  Whilst consent of 75% of the ownership will be required to demolish a strata building for redevelopment, there is quite a complex and time consuming process to achieve the end result.  This is designed to protect the rights of existing strata lot owners whilst not requiring a unanimous decision.

There will now be separate administration forms for different purposes and the forms for schemes being certified by Council are different to those being certified by a private certifier.

The unit entitlements must now be prepared by a qualified valuer and the valuer needs to sign the administration form to certify the values.  This is also the case for further subdivisions of strata lots when the unit entitlements must be updated.

If changes to the strata by-laws occur, the changes must be included within a consolidated set of by-laws so that it is easier for owners to understand what the current by-laws are.

The standard residential by-laws now have new options for the keeping of animals in addition to a model by-law in relation to smoke penetration.

Some of the terminology has changed for strata schemes.  For instance, ”exclusive use by-laws” will now be called “common property rights by-laws”, and “structural cubic space” will now be referred to as “common infrastructure”