{"id":167,"date":"2016-05-13T02:45:40","date_gmt":"2016-05-13T02:45:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wcpt.com.au\/members\/?p=167"},"modified":"2018-01-23T12:01:33","modified_gmt":"2018-01-23T04:01:33","slug":"167","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.wcpt.com.au\/index.php\/2016\/05\/13\/167\/","title":{"rendered":"Changes to Strata Law"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>\ndiv.floater {\n    float: right;\n    margin: 0 0 15px 20px;\n    padding: 15px;\n    border: 0px solid black;\n    text-align: center;\n}\n<\/style>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>New forms of strata are coming<\/strong><\/li>\n<p>There are two new forms of strata  proposed as part of the reform:<\/p>\n<div class=\"floater\"><img src=\"http:\/\/wcpt.com.au\/members\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/05\/stratacomplex.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"410\" \/><\/div>\n<ol type=\"a\">\n<li><strong><em>Community Strata<\/em><\/strong> is a new strata  type that will facilitate mixed use within a strata scheme. A community scheme  will be made up of a series of sub schemes that might vary in use \u2013 for  example, retail, residential and office. This type of scheme is ideal for the  type of large scale developments that are increasingly a feature of the WA  landscape and will continue in future, as a measure to promote density in our  city areas and decrease urban sprawl. <\/li>\n<li><strong><em>Leasehold Strata <\/em><\/strong>is a scheme that is  set for a defined period of time (between 20 and 99 years). Each lot within the  scheme will be issued a certificate of title, and will have an expiry date \u2013  just like a lease. A leasehold strata scheme gives WA a new option for owning  strata lots over a defined period, and will be helpful in circumstances where  land cannot be sold or transferred (for example, land owned by a church or  university). Leasehold strata will offer an alternate route to development of  this land for the benefit of the community. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><\/p>\n<li><strong>Strata Management is improving<\/strong><\/li>\n<p>The reforms will clarify the  roles of strata companies, strata councils and strata managers. Statutory  duties are set to be imposed on all strata managers, including the duty to act  honestly and in good faith, exercise due care and skill, hold a trust account for  strata funds, provide records of management activities and disclose conflicts  of interest. Strata Managers will also be required to report on their  activities annually, meaning the WA government will gain a clear picture of the  number of strata managers in operation and the number of strata properties  being managed. The WA government may use this information in future to consider  whether licensing of strata managers would be appropriate. <\/p>\n<li><strong>More powers for SAT in dispute resolution<\/strong><\/li>\n<p>The reforms seek to grant the  State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) greater powers and responsibilities in  relation to strata schemes, particularly in dispute resolution. This will  simplify the resolution process for all parties in the event that a dispute  arises. <\/p>\n<li><strong>Better information for buyers<\/strong><\/li>\n<p>New forms and clearer information  requirements will assist any purchaser of a strata property \u2013 making this an  important reform proposal for agents and sales representatives to be aware of.  The proposed reforms will require that details about levies, existing strata  management contracts, insurance, and details of funds held by a strata company  are all provided to a buyer in advance of their purchasing decision. <\/p>\n<li><strong>Other reforms<\/strong><\/li>\n<p>Other proposed reforms include <strong><em>Stage  of Strata Development<\/em><\/strong>, which will simplify the way a development  evolves over a period of time and refine the obligations placed on the  developer, and <strong><em>Termination of Schemes<\/em><\/strong>, which provides an alternative to  unanimous resolution while providing protection to all owners via the SAT. <\/p>\n<p>Although a concrete timeline for legislative change is  always difficult to define, these changes look set to be enacted as legislation  some time in 2016. Got a question or a thought? Comment below!<br \/>\n  More information on the reforms to the <em>Act<\/em> can be found on the Landgate website. <\/p>\n<p><em>Disclaimer:  this article has been created for information only, based on the information  available from Landgate as at 12 May 2016 concerning the proposed reform of the  Strata Titles Act 1985. This information cannot be relied upon for legal,  legislative, compliance or business decision-making purposes. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New forms of strata are coming There are two new forms of strata proposed as part of the reform: Community Strata is a new strata&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":188,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wcpt.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wcpt.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wcpt.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wcpt.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wcpt.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wcpt.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":189,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wcpt.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167\/revisions\/189"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wcpt.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wcpt.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wcpt.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.wcpt.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}