Statutes Amendment (Community and Strata Titles) Act 2012 (SA) commences

The Statutes Amendment (Community and Strata Titles) Act 2012 (SA) has been partially commenced as at 18 July 2013, with the remainder to commence on 28 October. The Act amends the Community Titles Act 1996 and the Strata Titles Act 1988 to improve protections for consumers who buy into or own units in strata and community titled developments.

The bill was first proposed following calls to introduce licensing of body corporate managers. During the early stages of consultation on the draft Bill, comment was received from over 50 respondents, including the National Community Titles Institute (NCTI), the Property Council (SA Division), the Commissioner for Consumer Affairs, the Law Society, the Legal Services Commission, the Real Estate Institute of South Australia, the Australian Institute of Conveyancers (SA Division), several strata managers and a number of strata owners.

In response, specific measures were included to improve the transparency and accountability of body corporate managers, and to allow owners greater access to information about the affairs of their strata or community corporation.

The measures contained in the Act include "pre-contractual and contractual disclosure for body corporate management contracts, restrictions on the duration of such contracts, better disclosure of conflict of interest and commissions, as well as restrictions on the grant and exercise of proxies for body corporate voting and a penalty notice system for by-law and article breaches."

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