The Real Estate Institute of NSW’s Strata Management Chapter Committee has outlined a number of changes they would like to see made to the current management and regulation of strata schemes.
The preliminary document submitted to the NSW Government proposes revisions to existing acts to ensure “the right laws are in place to manage future developments” within the state.
“Due to the many months of work by the Strata Management Chapter Committee, the resulting preliminary submission addresses the issues we feel are likely to be canvassed in the discussion paper due to be released before the end of this year,” REINSW committee executive, Christopher Carey said.
“It provides the NSW Government with a detailed account of the changes that need to be made to the Strata Schemes Management Act and the Strata Schemes Development Act to ensure fair and equitable outcomes for all parties.”
Among the proposed changes are:
- Requiring developers to register relevant documents, which could then be attached to the strata plan at the time of registration
- Allowing the appointment of developer or related person as strata manager
- Changing the term lengths of appointed strata managing agents
- Requiring strata managers to keep a separate record of the times they “exercise a delegated authority”
- Getting an independent party to sign-off levies initially set by the developer
- Registration of minor renovations
- Treating window safety devices as common property to clarify liability
- Reinstatement of building insurance valuations
- Repealing the requirement of affixing the seal of the owners’ corporation to any instrument or documentation because of recent advancements in technology
- Requiring statutory warranty to items with “defects and rectification”
“Throughout this process REINSW and the Strata Management Chapter Committee have been in regular contact with key government stakeholders,” Mr Carey continued.
These include representatives from the Real Estate and Housing Regulatory Policy Division of the NSW Department of Customer Service and from the NSW Office of the Registrar General.
