NSW implements strata laws to increase owners’ protections
The new legislation will bolster owners’ protections while increasing oversight and regulation of owners’ corporations and strata agents.
The NSW Parliament has passed the Strata Schemes Legislation Amendment Bill 2025, which delivers a slate of reforms designed to improve conditions in strata communities.
The bill was first proposed in Parliament in November last year, and will enact changes to help owners repair and maintain common property and provide more options for paying levies when facing financial stress.
Fair Trading Commissioner, Natasha Mann, said the increase in the number of strata schemes in NSW over the last decade has necessitated the implementation of these new laws.
“The number of strata schemes in New South Wales has grown from around 70,000 at the end of 2015 to more than 87,000 – creating a greater need for targeted, proactive regulation to ensure practitioners and businesses in the property industry are properly trained and supervised,” Mann said.
Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading, Anoulack Chanthivong, said the new protections will help strata community owners make “informed decisions on the future of the property”.
The new reforms will enhance owners corporations’ protections against unfair contract terms, such as limits on a strata managing agent’s liabilities.
They will also make it easier to terminate strata agent and building manager agreements if their business conduct is contrary to the law.
Additionally, the laws will enable Fair Trading to enter into enforceable undertakings with owners of corporations who do not meet their duties to maintain and repair common property.
“Repairs to common property are the obligations of the owners’ corporation, and these reforms help to ensure the hard-earned money of individual owners invested in the property will prevent it from being run down, become a safety risk or cause greater damage through neglect,” Chanthivong said.
The reforms also strengthened owners’ protections against bill shock, with developers now required to have initial levy estimates to be independently certified, including increased penalties for non-compliance.
Owners’ corporations will now be required to offer a payment plan to owners in financial hardship before undertaking debt recovery action and have been prohibited from using blanket rules to outright refuse payment plans.
New training requirements have been prescribed for strata committee members to help them perform their roles and facilitate interactions with owners’ corporations.
Processes around strata property infrastructure approval have also been changed by prohibiting by-laws that bar sustainable infrastructure, such as solar panels and electric vehicles due to external appearance.
Moreover, the approval threshold for accessibility infrastructure in common areas has been lowered from 75 per cent to a majority vote.
These new laws mark the third tranche of strata law reforms, closely following the Strata Managing Agents Amendments Act 2024, which saw its most recent changes take effect on 3 February 2025.
This entire slate of strata reforms will be enforced by a dedicated Strata and Property Services taskforce within NSW Fair Trading, which will be backed by an $8.4 million investment.
“These changes will make buying into strata more transparent and improve the building owners’ experience when they receive the keys from the developer,” Chanthivong said.