Section 141(3) of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) requires that:

The secretary of the owners corporation must keep a consolidated up to date copy of the by-laws for the strata scheme.

This provision came into effect when the 2015 Act came into force on 30 November 2016.

Further, Land Registry Services will not register any further by-law on the title of the common property of a strata scheme without the by-laws being consolidated.

Prior to the date above, by-laws were registered individually. This was cumbersome, as certificates of title for common property sometimes had the dealing numbers of scores of by-laws individually set out, and it was also incredibly expensive for a vendor to produce a contract for sale (each by-law having it’s own search cost).

There was no mechanism for strata schemes to have their by-laws automatically consolidated. An owners corporation must perform that work. Usually that is with the help of a legal practitioner who can complete the process on its instructions.

The fees for consolidation include both disbursements (being fees payable to LPI for registration costs and search costs) and professional fees for attending on the consolidation work. Professional fees for most strata schemes are going to be somewhere between $400 – $750 +GST depending on how many by-laws are already registered. Disbursements will be from $200 depending on whether all the information about current by-laws can be provided. This depends on the quality of records retained by the owners corporation.

Telemon Lawyers would be happy to assist your owners corporation in the process. Contact us for more information.