On 28 February 2021, the Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation and the Minister for Customer Service jointly released a notice opening consultations on the creation of a hub that will consolidate core information on NSW's 82,000 strata schemes in one database. In this hub, owners corporations will be required to report certain information about their schemes such as annual fire safety statements, addresses for service of notice, contact details for the scheme and litigation relating to defects.
The flow on effects from the decision of Cooper v The Owners – Strata Plan No 58068 [2020] NSWCA 250 which unanimously decided that an owners corporation could not enforce a by-law which imposed a blanket ban on animals has continued with the Strata Schemes Management Amendments (Sustainability Infrastructure) Act 2021 (NSW) being passed by NSW parliament on 24 February 2021 providing that in NSW, an owners corporation cannot unreasonably deny permission for residents to have pets.
Strata Law changes have also paved the way for strata committees to install clean energy infrastructure in their apartment buildings, with new amendments to the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) meaning that strata committees seeking to install technologies like rooftop solar can do so with the consent of 50% or more of owners.
The NSW Government has passed regulations to extend temporary arrangements for strata schemes which allow alternative signing options. The changes permit a scheme to execute an instrument via signature rather than by affixing the common seal. The changes have been extended to 13 May 2021.
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