Ms JODIE HARRISON (Charlestown—Minister for Women, Minister for Seniors, and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault) (16:32): I speak in support of the Strata Schemes Legislation Amendment Bill 2024. This bill is part of the next phase of our Government's broad suite of reforms being pursued in the strata area. One of the Government's key missions is tackling the housing crisis, which is a major driver of the cost-of-living pressures being felt all over the State. It is an important issue for my electorate of Charlestown. Census data certainly shows an increase in the percentage of Charlestown electorate residents living in semidetached properties, townhouses and apartments between 2016 and 2021. There has been a 4.4 per cent increase in people living in houses, a 14.3 per cent increase in people living in semidetached residences and a 27 per cent increase in residential flat building in my electorate. I told the House when I spoke last year on the Strata Managing Agents  Legislation Amendment Act 2024 that:

In my electorate of Charlestown, where a number of train stations have been … [targeted for new builds] as part of the Government's groundbreaking transport oriented development strategy, strata living … already a fact of life for many of my constituents … will become more common.

The issues this legislation is designed to address are personal for many people in Charlestown, but this legislation is also forward thinking in solving problems before they occur. By implementing 37 of the review's recommendations, this bill makes strata living fairer for the 1.2 million people living in the 86,000 schemes across the State and makes it more accessible and attractive to those who might consider it in the future. On that note, I will illustrate to the House how key elements of the bill address issues that may be faced by people living in strata. Imagine a person who has been living in strata for 20 years, who cares about where they live, who cares about the building in which they are living, who loves their community and who decides to give back by getting involved in the owners' corporation committee. This person does not have a legal education and has never done anything like it before.

It is fairly common for people on strata committees to have that type of experience. As the Minister pointed out during his second reading speech, when we talk about the people who are involved in owners' corporations, we are often talking about volunteers with limited or no experience. By amending the Fair Trading Act 1987, the bill seeks to address many issues that can arise in this area. In simple terms, owners' corporations or associations will be protected from unfair or predatory contractual practices. This reform represents a new height in the protection of owners' corporations, the people who constitute those corporations and those whom they represent. Similarly, the bill strengthens the governance of committees. While most members of strata committees are committed, engaged and take their responsibilities very seriously, it is complex work and it is worthwhile bolstering the safety net and helping committee members do their work.

I am sure we have all heard in our roles as local members, or in our personal lives, strata horror stories. That is what this bill is working to eradicate. So many of the impacted individuals are volunteers and this Government is working with the sector to help train them in their responsibilities. As I said, we do not want to make strata living more difficult. This reform will build in higher levels of trust and accountability. The bill tightens requirements for owners' associations to address pressing maintenance concerns by, firstly, barring those corporations from deferring works, if safety, access, or use of a lot or common property is affected; secondly, by ensuring 10‑year capital works fund plans meet minimum requirements for proper maintenance, avoiding sudden expenses for owners; thirdly, by tripling the time that lot owners can make a claim for damages as a result of a scheme's failure to maintain and repair the common property; and, fourthly, by equipping NSW Fair Trading to enforce these requirements.

The bill also includes several reforms that will improve the accountability of, and the confidence in, strata managing agents and building managers by ensuring that an agent cannot avoid liability when acting outside their agency by prohibiting management agreements, by increasing the frequency of when managers need to provide key reports, and by allowing strata schemes to terminate agreements and contracts with managing agents and building or facilities managers when those agents or managers conduct business in contradiction of the law. The bill builds directly upon the Government's previous changes to disclosure requirements. Building managers will also have a statutory duty to act in the best interests of the strata when carrying out their works, so long as that action would be legal.

Now imagine that you are a first home buyer, who has scrimped and saved to get a deposit. You have chosen to purchase a strata lot. It is your home, you are proud of it and you are ready to make it your own. When you make an application to your owners' corporation committee to undertake minor renovations, you are turned down—and you are never told why. That was another problem identified in the review, and I am not surprised that it has the effect of generating quite a bit of tension within the owners' corporation. To help overcome this problem, the bill requires an applicant to receive written reasons for any refusal of minor renovation requests. If reasons are not provided within three months, the application for minor works is deemed to have been approved. In a similar vein, the bill will encourage the uptake of environmental sustainability infrastructure by prohibiting by-laws that block things like solar panels due to external appearance and will also increase accessibility in strata, lowering the voting thresholds required for the installation of accessibility features to common areas or individual lots.

Now imagine you are a single parent living in a strata scheme. Money is tight, but you get by. Then something unexpected happens: you lose your job, you have a serious illness or a surprise cost. You might get behind on your levies. Or perhaps there is an urgent maintenance issue in the building, which could not be reasonably foreseen and is not incorporated in the levies, and the owners' corporation needs to generate funds with an extra levy. Suddenly there is a massive, unexpected cost you need to pay. The bill assists people in that situation by requiring levy notices to be accompanied by Fair Trading approved information setting out a person's options, including payment plans, free financial counselling and dispute resolution support.

Committees will also be able to enter into payment plans directly with owners facing financial difficulties, rather than having to vote on the issue at a general meeting, as is currently the case. That will not prevent owners' corporations from making the best choices for individual circumstances faced by their scheme because a payment plan can be reasonably refused. However, in the absence of reasonable grounds, an owner will be able to challenge the decision in the tribunal. If an agreed payment plan is being complied with, owners' corporations will be limited in taking debt recovery action. The notice period for that action will increase, giving owners more time to work towards a solution. The changes will ensure that fewer strata residents end up facing legal or bankruptcy proceedings for failing to meet their levy obligations.

The bill takes several important steps to assist owners' corporations in meeting ongoing maintenance requirements and helping individual owners to understand the overall cost of their purchase of a strata lot. Currently the original owner of the strata property must prepare an initial maintenance schedule ahead of the first annual general meeting. The schedule informs decisions taken by the owners' corporation, including the capital works fund plan, the initial levies paid by new buyers, and so on. The legislative review found that the schedules vary widely in quality across schemes. The bill requires the original owner to meet certain standards set out in the regulation and to obtain independent certification of the details. The new requirements may be enforced, with a maximum penalty of $55,000 for noncompliance on the original owner.

In summary, the bill is important for the Charlestown electorate. We need to increase housing density to meet population growth and we need to see increased apartment and townhouse-type development. To do that we need to increase the attractiveness of and reduce the barriers to living in a strata development. The Minister said in his second reading speech, "The benefits of strata can only be realised when the regulatory framework overseeing the sector is effective, supports good governance and fosters public trust in strata professionals." I could not agree more. This bill is the latest in the Government's efforts to fix the housing crisis, and it will deliver real and important reforms for my constituents, now and into the future. I commend the bill to the House.