Although sending communications and serving notices via email makes perfect sense these days it is currently not supported by the NSW legislation. s236 of the Act sets out the manner in which an owners corporation may serve notice on others. This section does not include email communication.
It is somewhat curious then that our legislators chose to include by law 22 in the 2010 Regulations when it is not consistent with the Act.
I am sure that his will be addressed when a new Act comes before parliament (which we have now all been discussing for years – next year maybe?).
In practical terms though if owners agree in writing to receive notices by email, an email address is provided and you choose to adopt by-law 22 of the 2010 regulations there would seem to be no risk involved in following this path.
A couple of further points to consider though…
- Your strata managing agent will need to have a system which easily allows them to email notices. There system will be set up for the current provisions in the Act however many agents are forward thinking enough to have the facilities in place at present. If yours don’t then find one who does.
- This may not necessarily save the owners corporation a lot of money as many agents charge disbursements for sending emails (per email) so even though you are not paying for printing & postage they may still get you in the end anyway.
Lets hope that the new Act will be consistent with the 21st century!