A new or amended by-law has to be registered at the  Registrar General’s Office within two years of the vote being taken to make the change.

Until such times as the by-law has been registered, it has no legal standing.

The question of who should vacate what and when is not so clear cut.  In simple terms, the EC could ask the owner concerned to vacate what is still common property until such times as the matter is resolved.

However, I would caution you that there is a common law principle called something like fraud against a minority which basically concerns a majority of owners having legitimately (under the law) chosen a course of action which discriminates against a minority.

An example would be 80 owners in a building of 100 units but only 80 car spaces, awarding themselves exclusive use of common car spaces, and let the other 20 owners go whistle without compensation of any kind.

Strata law allows for a 76 percent majority to pass a by-law but common law doesn’t allow such blatantly unfair behaviour.

So, in your case, the person who loses out on the storage could have a claim against the Owners Corp which could lead to the original and as-yet unregistered exclusive use by-laws being struck down.  If the two excluded owners currently arguing over the one storage space get together, then you might have real trouble on your hands.

@ccbaxter said:
JimmyT, I just wanted to double check please. I believed until now, a by-law came into force straight away when it was voted in. Are you sure you’re right and it has to be registered before it’s in force, as you say? Two years is a ridiculously long time, eh!

Strata Act Part 5, Division 3

48 What steps must an owners corporation take to make an amendment effective?

(1)  An amendment or repeal of a by-law or, a new by-law, has no force or effect until:

(a)  the owners corporation has lodged a notification, in the form approved under the Real Property Act 1900 , in the Registrar-General’s office, and

(b)  the Registrar-General has made an appropriate recording of the notification in the folio of the Register comprising the common property.

(2)  A notification cannot be lodged in the Registrar-General’s office more than 2 years after the passing of the resolution for the amendment, repeal or new by-law.

And your “common law principle called something like fraud against a minority which basically concerns a majority of owners having legitimately (under the law) chosen a course of action which discriminates against a minority” is a great piece of information. Any chance of you elaborating on this please?

 

 

There’s an excellent article on this by our legal sponsors Makinson & d’Apice on page 6 of THIS document.