NSW Strata Law Reforms [Non] Update
I'd stop holding your breath for these strata law reforms ...
If you’re eagerly awaiting the promised fixes to New South Wales strata laws, stop holding your breath as it’s going to be a long long time before anything happens. Plus, there aren’t any clues about what might be included or excluded until the end of 2021. At least that’s what I’ve discovered ...
[3.50 minutes estimated reading time, 696 words]
Remember the excitement you felt at the beginning of 2021 about the widespread review of the New South Wales strata laws to reform them for the future? Hold that feeling as best you can because, if you’re like me, you’ll start getting frustrated soon.
It’s now been 6 months since the NSW strata law reforms began and 2 months since the submissions on the discussion paper closed [after a 1-month extension].
As you’ll recall, I wrote a series of articles about the different reform areas [as listed below] and made a detailed submission that I summarised in the article ‘Strata Reforms [NSW]: Stage 1 Wrap Up’.
Since then, I’ve been trying to find out what others have said in their submissions about the strata laws and reforms but only had limited success as follows.
The Owners Corporation Network has made a submission and it can be found on their website. You can read it here.
Strata Community Association NSW has made a submission and which can also be found on their website. You can read it here [but at the moment the link isn’t working].
The Australian College of Strata Lawyers [ACSL] has made a submission but won’t provide a copy publicly telling me in response to my request that:
‘ACSL is in the process of developing a Policy & Procedures Manual which should include the publication of ACSL IP. Currently, the college has no policy or procedure around the publication of ACSL IP so the college is not in the position to approve your request.‘.
The NSW Law Society has made a submission that’s available on their website. You can read it here.
I also asked the NSW Fair Trading team running the strata law reform process for details of the other submissions that have been made and for copies, but 2 months later they told me:
‘All submissions received during the consultation process will be carefully considered and we endeavour to make submissions publicly available at a later date. However, submissions that have requested to be anonymous will not be made publicly available.
A report on the findings of the statutory review will be tabled in both Houses of NSW Parliament in November 2021.‘
So, it seems that nothing more will happen for strata stakeholders until late 2021 or 2022. Plus, there’s also no published timeframe for the next stages of the strata reforms after the report is tabled either.
I predicted delays and very slow progress based on the last set of NSW strata law reforms which ran 5 years from 2011 to 2016 in my article ‘The NSW Strata Law Reform Mirage‘.
If you’ve made a submission that you’d like me and others to read, please send it to me at francesco@gostrata.com.au and I’ll circulate it.
June 23, 2021
Francesco …
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MY OTHER NSW STRATA LAW REFORM ARTICLES
NSW Strata Law Reform Déjà vu: Shall we do this strata law reform one more time …
Strata Reforms [NSW] Update 1: Policy considerations & objectives: What are we actually trying to achieve with our strata laws ...
Strata Reforms [NSW] Update 2: Lessons & Challenges from past reforms: Learning from what we did [and didn’t do] before …
Strata Reforms [NSW] Update 3: Part Strata Schemes: Preserving the uniqueness of part strata, whilst creating release valves for problems
Strata Reforms [NSW] Update 4: Information Issues: Better access to strata information is well overdue …
Strata Reforms [NSW] Update 5: Decision Making: A fresh chance to get better decisions made in strata buildings …
Strata Reforms [NSW] Update 6: Financial Matters: Money, money, money, must be funny, in the rich strata person’s world …
Strata Reforms [NSW] Update 7: Building Structure Issues: In strata, it’s all about the building [as well as the Benjamins] ….
Strata Reforms [NSW] Update 8: Legislation Housekeeping: Let’s Marie Kondo these strata laws ….
Strata Reforms [NSW]: Stage 1 Wrap Up: My 113 ideas & suggestions about the initial discussion paper & questions …