Bad dogs and good faith – new laws explained

We’ve mentioned a few times that new strata laws were on the way in NSW. Well, they arrived on Monday, December 11^th, and they will change a lot of day-to-day strata stuff.

There’s everything from how committee members can be sacked to members with vested interests having to sit out strata committee meetings that discuss decisions that might make or cost them money.

And there’s an antidote to the spreading “Queensland Disease” of the pre-sale of management contracts, with any and all having to be approved at the initial AGM of a new block.

Our sponsors Bannerman’s Lawyers held a webinar on the changes to NSW strata law that came into effect last week. If you missed that virtual bus, you can look at David Bannerman’s take on all the changes HERE.

And if you have a pet, or there are pets in your scheme, you’ll want to read his focus on how the pet laws have been tweaked HERE.

Another important change has been a tightening of the regulations on collective sales and strata renewals of older buildings.

Specifically, the new laws will give courts the ability to prevent objectors who aren’t acting in good faith from forcing the majority of owners to pay their legal fees.

This was in response to a recent case where a would-be developer was outbid by another entity so used the provisions of the act to block the sale, using the owners money to fund his case.

You can read how the new laws include a “good faith” provision HERE.