The ACT Parliament has officially passed the Unit Titles Legislation Amendment Bill 2023, signifying a significant shift for stakeholders involved in the ownership, development, and management of unit titled plans in the ACT.
These changes, effective from July 1 2023, aim to enhance transparency, streamline processes, and safeguard the rights of owners.
Exemption from Insurance Requirements
Owners within Class B complexes have the option to pass a unanimous resolution to exempt the scheme from taking out and maintaining building insurance. The Bill has made changes to the Unit Titles (Management) Act 2011 to improve transparency and clarifies that exemptions will continue until new resolutions are passed instead of ending at the next AGM.
Audit Requirements
The Owners Corporation must arrange for the financial records of the units plan to be audited before the Annual General Meeting if the annual budget of the Owners Corporation is more than $250,000. For the purpose of calculating the sum of $250,000, the annual budget of the Owners Corporation is the sum of all funds in the unit plans general (admin) fund, sinking fund and any other amount held by the owners corporation (term deposits).
Insurance Excess Claims
Insurance excess payments are now able to be recovered in an insurable event that has occurred as a result of negligence, omission, or a breach of OC rules.
Unit Title Certificates
There will be a new requirement included within the procurement of Section 119 Certificates. From July 1 2023, a Unit Title Update Certificate may only be prepared within 4 months of the day that a Unit Title Certificate is given. After this period a new Unit Title Certificate will need to be generated.
Subleasing Common Property
Certain circumstances will now allow schemes to sublease common property areas. This will allow schemes to make use of common property for business purposes while providing a strong framework to protect the rights of owners.
Rules
Previously, when making amendments to a scheme’s rules, Owners Corporations were only required to lodge a copy of the rules that had been amended. Owners Corporations will now be required to lodge an updated document of all of their alternative rules each time a rule or set of rules is changed. This allows prospective Owners to have access to the full, current set of rules when purchasing a unit.
Sustainability Infrastructure
The changes will allow for more situations where permission to install sustainability infrastructure can be denied. This will help in circumstances where installing sustainability infrastructure might make it difficult for other people to have fair access in the future.
If you have any questions in regards to the change in legislation, please get in touch with your Strata Manager or visit the ACT Government website for an explanation of the bill.
