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New strata laws may empower owners' corps

By Staff Reporter
07 January 2013 | 5 minute read

Staff Reporter

New strata laws under consideration by the NSW government may give more power to owners' corporations, even allowing them to bypass the tribunal and impose their own fines, according to a newspaper report.

The Sun Herald reported yesterday that after a review by NSW fair trading minister, Anthony Roberts in December 2011, new strata laws are due to be introduced to parliament in the second half of 2013.

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"Many schemes would have multiple bylaw breaches happening every day,” the review read, according to The Sun Herald.

"People parking in the wrong place, hanging washing on the balcony, keeping pets without approval or making too much noise, etc. Some stakeholders see the current system as time consuming, costly, ineffective and unenforceable," the review found.

According to The Sun Herald, Mr Roberts described the new regulations as a ''knock down and rebuild job'', saying the 1,800 submissions to the review had overwhelmingly called for greater empowerment for the 70,000-odd bodies corporate in NSW.

"People are fed up with not being able to police their own bylaws … self-determination for owners' corporations is the way things are heading," Mr Roberts told The Sun Herald.

Currently in South Australia and Western Australia, owners' corporations can impose fines of up to $500 on owners breaching bylaws on overcrowding, parking, pets, noise and unpaid levies, the newspaper report said. However, in NSW, an owner must be pursued through the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal (CTTT) and fines are paid to Fair Trading rather than going to the owners' corporation.

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