Over the past 2 years Financial Rights and our colleagues at Financial Counselling Australia and Marrickville Legal Centre worked with Fair Trading NSW to address shocking practices in the collection of overdue strata levies.

Strata debt collection is notoriously quick and aggressive. Unlike credit or essential service providers, there have been no consumer protections that allow a person to seek help and consider their options while repaying their levies arrears, without the accrual of large fees and charges.

Legal recovery action adds additional debts for lot owners - often well in excess of their original levy arrears. Those “debts” are then used to institute court proceedings when they reach $10,000, which puts people at risk of forced bankruptcy. Bankruptcy proceedings become a first resort – not a last resort.

The Strata Debt Recovery Working Group, convened by NSW Fair Trading, was tasked with addressing the known issues with financial hardship arrangements and debt collection practices in NSW. Through this process, and by lobbying NSW members of parliament for additional reforms, we have achieved reforms that we hope will address the poor practices we have observed for decades.

In 2025 multiple reforms were introduced including:

• Require strata levy notices to include a Financial Hardship Information Statement
• Provide a standard form for lot owners to request a payment plan for overdue contributions
• Set rules for owners’ corporations and strata committees when considering requests for payment plans, repayments and recovery action

Additional strata reform will continue into 2026, with expected new obligations on schemes around payment plans, and the introduction of an obligation to send reminder notices where levies are overdue.

These reforms were hard won after many years of advocacy. We hope they give strata lot owners experiencing hardship time to seek advice and consider their options - without accruing fees that make it impossible for them to get back on track.

NSW Fair Trading has published extensive information for strata owners in NSW who need help understanding their rights when experiencing hardship. The National Debt Helpline also has a page on strata levies.

Read more of our achievements in our 2025 Annual Report.