In a review of the laws under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 and Strata Schemes Development Act 2015, the Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation opened community consultation as a crucial part of that statutory review. The Government sought feedback on changes which would require owners to disclose critical information, on a new digital Strata Portal and to ensure that the laws covering strata living stay relevant.
The initiative is a flow on effect 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.
The engagement closed last month and the NSW Government is currently reviewing all the contributions. The statutory body will table a report on the findings of the review in Parliament before the year end. A separate report to Parliament will include the findings from the pets in strata survey by August 2021.
