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Happy New Year to all,
Our (NSW) strata has all the model by-laws in place. About 4 years ago when I renovated my 2 bathrooms, as part of the process in submitting my Major Renovation request, I completed the “blanks” describing the renovation work being carried out in the By-Law Schedules, which were then registered after the reno for between $300-400 from memory. A fair price.
It’s now time to renovate my laundry and again because waterproofing is involved, it is considered a Major Renovation. I understand from others who have recently renovated in our complex that registering strata by-laws for has increased to almost $1,000. This – for something that Owners prepare in the correct format, hand over to the Managing Agent who presumably then hands over to “their” lawyers to register.
My question is this … how much can I reasonably expect to pay for my renovation by-law to be registered in NSW? And if it’s much more than $500, who is actually getting the benefit of this in their back pocket? Because it’s certainly not Owners!! Bah Humbug.
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Blame the NSW government.
They sold the land titles office to Pexa. They have increased the fees payable and now the only way to register a bylaw is through one of their providers, a lawyer or conveyancer.
Since you have no choice but to use a provider and Pexa, it’s a monopolistic situation, with the attendant price gouging.
Is it strictly necessary for a by-law to be registered by a lawyer? Give Fair Trading a call and ask. And if you think the Strata Manager and lawyer between them are charging like a wounded bull, try something like http://www.diybylaws.com.au. Note that Bannerman’s is behind it, but maybe it’s a cheaper option. If you’re the person paying, you should be able to choose who provides you with the service.
It doesn’t have to be done by a lawyer, but it does have to be done by someone with a PEXA account. I just checked and we paid $375 in 2023 to a firm called “Sydney Legal Agents”, who mainly provide this service to solicitors.
Be warned, they’re used to dealing with people who understand the arcane language of PEXA – which bears only a passing resemblance to English. It took me three goes to get it right.
I’ve since found out my solicitors have a PEXA account and will do it for about the same fee.
So shop around. And minimise the intermediaries! Adding the managing agent into the chain isn’t helpful.
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