The NSW Government is introducing a bill to reform NSW strata laws – first major reform since 1973. Financial Rights has long argued the need for amendments to the strata laws to ensure that those owners who find themselves in financial hardship and are overdue in their strata contributions have access to a payment plan process and an internal dispute resolution mechanism. The current draft of the Bill takes some steps towards this goal but in Financial Rights’ view does not go far enough. The Bill provides owners corporations with the choice to voluntarily enter into payment plans but does not make this a right for struggling owners. Similarly, owners corporations are given the choice to voluntarily establish an internal dispute resolution mechanism. Financial Rights believes that both the option for a payment plan and internal dispute resolution process should be made mandatory. Financial Rights also argues that the power for a court to order an owner to pay the expenses of the owners corporation incurred in recovering any contributions not paid should be limited to those expenses that are reasonable in the circumstances.
