The Department of Customer Service is calling on people to have a say on how laws can be changed to improve the experiences of people living and working in strata communities.
Minister for Better Regulation, Kevin Anderson said community consultation was a crucial part of the statutory review of both the Strata Schemes Development Act 2015 and the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015.
“With the continued surge in popularity of apartment living we expect over half the population of Greater Sydney to be living in strata titled apartment towers, townhouses and blocks of flats by 2040,” Mr Anderson said.
“There are now 81,717 strata schemes registered in NSW and every year this number grows by more than 1,000 across both Sydney and regional NSW,” he said.
“It is important that the laws covering strata living stay relevant and address some of the fundamental issues that might be stopping people from fulfilling the great Australian dream of home ownership.”
Mr Anderson said the State was aware that more needed to be done to ensure apartment buildings were well maintained and remained free of building defects over their lifetime, so owners weren’t left out of pocket by tens of thousands of dollars.
“That’s why we will be seeking feedback on changes that would require owners to disclose critical information about programmed maintenance, capital works spending and defects,” the Minister said.
He said feedback was also being sought on a new digital Strata Portal that would capture mandatory information for each strata building in NSW and make it available to the regulator to ensure compliance with fire and other important safety requirements.
Mr Anderson said people could have a say on the new laws before 7 March next year by taking a quick poll, completing a survey, or uploading a submission.
The Department’s 83-page discussion paper, Statutory Review of the NSW Strata Schemes Laws, including information on how to have a say can be accessed at this PS News link.
