Hi guys, it’s Allison Benson from Thoughts from a Strata Lawyer. Today this is a really quick one, an update, flagging some reforms that are on the way.

At the moment we have the Strata Schemes Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous) Bill 2026 sitting in our Legislative Council. It’s passed through the Legislative Assembly, waiting on its second reading speech.

There are going to be a fair few tweaks to our Strata Schemes Management Act & Community Lands Management Act coming up in that legislation if it does pass.

– First of all there are going to be a lot of penalty provisions.

– There are going to be some changes to the voting entitlements of original owners (aka developers) to reduce their voting rights by two-thirds in schemes where they own lots with over half the unit entitlements.

– There are going to be substantive changes to two-lot schemes and how they make decisions.

– There are going to be big changes in terms of the maximum term of building management contracts, and they’re going to be reduced down from a 10-year time frame to a three-year time frame.

– There are going to be more changes to debt collection procedures for unpaid strata levies and interest, so some more compliance notices / letters to go out there.

– Changes as to when an owner’s corporation can require a lot owner to pay a bond.

– Some changes around cosmetic work, some redefinition of minor renovations to link minor renovations to building elements as defined in the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020.

– There are going to be big changes in terms of exclusive supply networks, called embedded networks by most of us colloquially, and they’ll prevent the provider of these exclusive supply networks from removing the infrastructure at the end of the contract without the owner’s corporation’s written consent.

– There is going to be a new provision inserted. This is in the proposed Bill. Obviously it has to be passed by the Legislative Council but the Bill is, or has, a proposal to insert a new provision making it much much easier for the installation of electric vehicle charging stations by lot owners. The onus is going to be on the Owners Corporation not to unreasonably object to such an installation.

Some really significant changes are in the wind. Let’s see where we go with the legislation and whether it passes through the Legislative Council. I suspect it will; it’s just going to be a matter of time.

Thanks all for paying attention. I will have some more details for you when that Bill has actually passed. (This blog was recorded on 28 February 2026 – as at this date the second reading speech session had not been scheduled on the NSW Parliamentary website).