Strata Schemes Management Amendment (COVID-19) Regulation (No 2) 2020

New South Wales

Strata Schemes Management Amendment

(COVID-19) Regulation (No 2) 2020

under the

Strata Schemes Management Act 2015

Published LW 12 November 2020 (2020 No 660)

Her Excellency the Governor, with the advice of the Executive Council, has made the following

Regulation under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015.

KEVIN ANDERSON, MP

Minister for Better Regulation and Innovation

Explanatory note

The object of this Regulation is to provide for the following matters under the Strata Schemes Management

Act 2015 (the Act) for the purposes of responding to the public health emergency caused by the COVID-19

pandemic—

(a) altered arrangements for convening, and voting at, meetings of an owners corporation or a strata

committee,

(b) allowing instruments and documents, instead of being affixed with the seal of an owners corporation

in the presence of certain persons, to be signed (and the signatures to be witnessed) by those persons,

(i) the first annual general meeting of an owners corporation must be convened and held, and

(ii) a levy must be determined to reimburse an amount paid or transferred from an administrative

fund or a capital works fund.

This Regulation also postpones the date of repeal of section 271A of the Act, which confers the special

regulation-making power to provide for the above matters.

This Regulation is made under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, including sections 271 (the

general regulation-making power) and 271A.

Strata Schemes Management Amendment (COVID-19)

Regulation (No 2) 2020

under the

Strata Schemes Management Act 2015

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Strata Schemes Management Amendment (COVID-19) Regulation (No 2) 2020 [NSW]

Published LW 12 November 2020 (2020 No 660)

1 Name of Regulation

This Regulation is the Strata Schemes Management Amendment (COVID-19)

Regulation (No 2) 2020.

2 Commencement

(1) This Regulation commences on the day on which it is published on the NSW

legislation website, except as provided for in subclause (2).

(2) Schedule 1[1] commences on 13 November 2020.

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Strata Schemes Management Amendment (COVID-19) Regulation (No 2) 2020 [NSW]

Schedule 1 Amendment of Strata Schemes Management Regulation 2016

Published LW 12 November 2020 (2020 No 660)

Schedule 1 Amendment of Strata Schemes Management

Regulation 2016

[1] Clauses 69–73

Omit the clauses. Insert instead—

69 Definition

In this Part—

relevant strata meeting has the same meaning as in section 271A of the Act.

70 Altered arrangements for convening relevant strata meetings—section

271A(1)(a) of Act

Notice of, or any other document in relation to, a relevant strata meeting may

be given to a person by email to an email address specified by the person for

the service of documents.

71 Altered arrangements for voting at relevant strata meetings—section

271A(1)(b) of Act

(1) The means of voting specified in clause 14 may be used to determine a matter

at a relevant strata meeting even if the owners corporation or strata committee,

as the case may be, has not, by resolution, adopted those means of voting.

(2) Clauses 14–17 extend to the use, under this clause, of those means of voting.

(3) If those means of voting are to be used and have not, by resolution, been

adopted, the secretary of the owners corporation, or, if a strata managing agent

may exercise the functions of the secretary under clauses 14–17, the strata

managing agent, must take reasonable steps necessary to ensure that each

owner of a lot in the strata scheme or each member of the strata committee, as

the case may be, can participate in and vote at the relevant strata meeting.

(4) To avoid doubt, this clause—

(a) applies despite any requirement in the Act for a vote at a relevant strata

meeting to be exercised in person, but

Note. See clause 28(1) of Schedule 1, and clause 10(1) of Schedule 2, to the

Act.

(b) does not permit pre-meeting electronic voting to be used for an election.

(5) A person who has voted, or intends to vote, on a motion or at an election at a

meeting by a permitted means other than a vote in person is taken to be present

for the purposes of determining whether there is a quorum for the motion or

election.

Note. For quorum requirements for relevant strata meetings, see clause 17 of

Schedule 1, and clause 12 of Schedule 2, to the Act.

72 Alternative to affixing seal of owners corporation—section 271A(1)(c) of Act

(1) An instrument or document may, as an alternative to being affixed with the

seal of an owners corporation in the presence of the persons referred to in

section 273 of the Act, be signed by those persons (each of whom is, in that

capacity, a signatory) in the presence of those persons (each of whom is, in

that capacity, a witness).

(2) The instrument or document must indicate the following—

(a) the date on which it is signed and the signatures are witnessed,

(b) the name of each signatory and witness,

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Strata Schemes Management Amendment (COVID-19) Regulation (No 2) 2020 [NSW]

Schedule 1 Amendment of Strata Schemes Management Regulation 2016

Published LW 12 November 2020 (2020 No 660)

corporation,

Example. The secretary of the owners corporation, the strata managing agent

of the owners corporation (or a relevant officer of the strata managing agent), a

member of the strata committee of the owners corporation or an owner of a lot

in the relevant strata scheme.

(d) if a signatory or witness is the strata managing agent of the owners

corporation, or a relevant officer of a strata managing agent that is a

corporation—the number of the strata managing agent’s licence under

the Property and Stock Agents Act 2002.

(3) A reference in section 273(4)–(6) of the Act to affixing the seal of an owners

corporation to an instrument or document is taken to include a reference to

signing, and witnessing the signature of, the instrument or document in

accordance with this clause.

(4) For the purposes of this clause—

(a) the presence of a signatory or witness is taken to be satisfied if the

signatory or witness is present by audio visual link, and

(b) a signature is not required to be witnessed if it is the signature of—

(i) a strata managing agent, or a relevant officer of a strata managing

agent that is a corporation, or

(ii) if the owners corporation has only 1 owner—the owner.

(5) In this clause—

audio visual link means technology that enables continuous and

contemporaneous audio and visual communication between persons at

different places, including video conferencing.

relevant officer of a strata managing agent that is a corporation means—

(a) the president, chairperson or other principal officer of the corporation,

(b) any member of staff of the corporation authorised by the president,

chairperson or other principal officer to affix the seal of the owners

corporation to an instrument or document, or to attest the fact and date

of the affixing of the seal.

73 Extension of time periods—section 271A(1)(d) of Act

(1) A meeting of an owners corporation under section 14 of the Act must be

convened and held not later than 6 months after the end of the initial period.

(2) An owners corporation must, not later than 6 months after transferring money

from, or using, the administrative fund or the capital works fund in the manner

referred to in section 76 of the Act, determine the amount to be levied, as a

contribution to the fund from which the transfer or use was made, to reimburse

the amounts paid from the fund.

[2] Clause 74

Insert after clause 73—

74 Postponed repeal of regulation-making power—section 271A(5)(b) of Act

Section 271A of the Act is repealed at the beginning of 13 May 2021.