Strata laws affect more than one million people living and working in strata schemes across NSW, which will increase as our population grows.

Strata living can provide a friendly community-style environment and as strata living continues to change, we want to understand your experience.

We are reviewing the laws under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 and Strata Schemes Development Act 2015.

Our wide-ranging review covers diverse areas of interest – including managing common property, resolving disputes, by-laws including animals, committee and owners corporation meetings, mixed-use schemes, strata renewal and much more.

For more information on the review, please read the discussion paper.

New laws for pets in strata

Since new laws started on 25 August 2021, owners corporations can't refuse the keeping of an animal in a strata scheme unless the animal unreasonably interferes with another resident's use and enjoyment of their lot or the common property.

Your feedback on the review of these laws has helped the NSW Government develop the Strata Schemes Management Amendment (Pets) Regulation 2021, which sets out the circumstances in which an animal causes an unreasonable interference.

The Government also tabled a report on the review of the Strata Schemes Management Act, as it relates to the keeping of animals, in NSW Parliament on 20 August 2021. The report sets out the public feedback we received as part of the pets in strata survey and how the circumstances prescribed in the new pets regulations were developed.

Next steps

The NSW Government:

• tabled a report on the findings of the review in NSW Parliament on 29 November 2021. Legislation to implement the recommendations of the review is being prepared in phases
• advanced the first phase of reforms with new laws that started 11 December 2023 that deliver immediate benefits for residents and owners in strata and community land schemes.
• introduced the Strata Schemes Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 in NSW Parliament on 20 November 2024. The Bill implements the second tranche of reforms from the report.

NSW strata reforms

The NSW Government is progressing the implementation of the recommendations from the 2021 Report on the Statutory Review of the Strata Schemes Development Act 2015 and Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 in phases.

The NSW Government advanced the first phase of reforms with new laws that started on 11 December 2023.

On 20 November 2024, the NSW Government introduced the Strata Schemes Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 in NSW Parliament. The Bill implements recommendations from the review report and some additional reforms.

The proposed changes in the Bill include to:

• improve developers accountability by ensuring the initial maintenance schedule and initial levies are independently certified
• support the uptake of sustainability and accessibility infrastructure
• strengthen professional strata management
• protect owners corporations from unfair contract terms in standard form contracts,
• improve the governance of strata committees
• strengthen owners corporations’ obligations to maintain and repair common property,
• assist owners in financial hardship, and
• improve the disclosure of embedded networks for prospective buyers.

More information about these proposed reforms is available on the NSW Parliament website Strata Schemes Legislation Amendment Bill 2024.

Other resources include the:

• nsw.gov.au Changes to strata scheme laws web page
• NSW Fair Trading Changes to community land laws web page.

Further reforms to the strata and community lands laws will be progressed in 2025. To learn about further opportunities to have your say on any proposed new laws, subscribe to NSW Fair Trading’s Property Matters newsletter.

Pets in strata survey

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Strata Management Act survey

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Strata Development Act survey

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This consultation is for NSW Fair Trading, Department of Customer Service. Have your say consultations are run by the NSW Department of Customer Service (McKell Building, 2-4 Rawson Place, Haymarket NSW 2000).

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