Re: Have your say on strata law reform

19/01/2012 at 11:18 am #14559

Flatchatter

Herewith my Submission to the NSW Government’s Review of the State’s Strata and Community Title Laws; NOT to in any way influence the nature or content of Submissions by others, but simply to raise awareness of the opportunity to make a Submission among those in the Strata Community via https://www.openforum.com.au/strata

Response to Q1:

Strata & Community Plans have increasing numbers of tenants, so there needs to be a change in the convoluted process whereby an Owners Corporation (O/C) can enforce compliance with its By-Laws, and the situation where an O/C cannot presently take action against tenants in Breach in the Tenancy Division of the Consumer Trader & Tenancy Tribunal (CTTT) where Tenancy Agreements can be terminated, as opposed to in the Strata Division where fines are small and infrequently applied, where tenants’ compliance with Orders is rare, and where follow-up / enforcement by the CTTT is infrequent and ineffective.

Permit Owners Corporations to manage their Plan and hold them accountable for doing that!

Response to Q 2:

(i) Levy amounts – The current requirement for Sinking Fund Plans(SFP) has failed because there is no penalty applicable to Planswho don’t have a SFP, and because many of the Organisationswho prepare them produce little more than a “shell document”with some arbitrary amounts “plugged –in”.

There needs to be some legislated “rules” around the minimum amounts of Levies that must be raised by Owners Corporations,where a formula (for example) takes into consideration thePlan’s location (e.g. sea-side), its construction materials, its age, and movements in the CPI all factored into a minimumLevy amount ($) per Unit of Entitlement.

(ii) Property Managers / Agents – need training in or have knowledge of the tenancy aspects of Strata Legislation, such as the requirement to include By-Laws with Lease Agreements, S119 Notifications to the O/C, and the Tenant Disclosure Requirements of the Regulation in the context of violent incidents involving tenants, and the Legislation needs toformalise a legal relationship between Property Managers andthe Owners Corporations of the Plans into which they placetenants (not just between Property Managers & Landlords)

Response to Q 3:

How long is a piece of string?

(i) Develop a “core” set of By-Laws that all Strata and CommunityPlans MUST adopt, followed by a set of “model” or suggestedBy-Laws that Plans may optionally adopt in accordance withneed / relevance.

(ii) Attach penalties (unit based) to each of the above, and allow Owners Corporation to develop and register their own Special By-Laws in accordance with the provisions of the current State Legislation, and permit them to also include their own “reasonable” Fees as a penalty which should bear relativity tohose set in the Legislation OR perhaps be limited by thatLegislation (e.g. to 2 penalty units; currently $220)

(iv) Allow the Executive Committees of Owners Corporations (O/C) to approve the issue of Breach Advisory Notices (1), followed byNotices to Comply only if the Breach continues.

(v) Permit Owners Corporations to invoice penalty amounts directlyto those in Breach of By-Laws (Core, Adopted, and Special), andallow those in Breach to appeal to the CTTT – who would rulebased solely upon whether or not a By-Law had been Breached, and whether or not the legislated procedures (as proposed) hadbeen followed absolutely by the O/C.

The costs to lodge an appeal should be increased so as to limitfrivolous actions, the O/C should be required to reimburse thosecosts to the Appellant if their appeal is upheld, and if the appealis lost the Legislation should include enforcement action to ensure payment to the O/C (e.g. via the State Debt RecoverOffice).

Response to Q4

The Dispute / Breach of By-Laws handling process should include:

mandatory mediation at the Plan level (e.g. between those allegedly in Breach, the Accuser, an Executive Committee Rep, and the Strata Manager), followed by the issue of a written record of what (if anything) was agreed — and if the Breach continues;