New Information to be disclosed to prospective strata tenants

From 23 March 2020, before a tenancy agreement is signed, a landlord or agent will need to give a tenant a copy of the strata scheme’s by-laws.

These changes provide greater protection for prospective strata tenants and are additional requirements to the general disclosure obligations.

The type of issues that tenants should be made aware of prior to moving into an apartment are:

Are there any rectification works proposed for the building, most common works that we see are building defects to newer complexes, concrete spalling to balconies & fire order compliance.

These usually are ongoing and can stretch over an extended period.

Landlords & Agents sometimes are not aware of the scheduled works especially if they are not attending Owners Corporation meetings or reading/receiving minutes of these such meetings.

The changes to the Legislation do not allow this to be used as an excuse and there are now remedies in place for tenants for breaches to information disclosure obligations.

From 23 March 2020, a tenant will be able to end their tenancy agreement by giving at least 14 days’ notice if the landlord or agent fails to comply with any of the information disclosure obligations.

A tenant can also apply to the Tribunal for an order to end the tenancy.

The Tribunal will also have the discretion to order the landlord to compensate the tenant for any costs incurred as a result of ending the tenancy agreement.

TIPS FOR LANDLORDS:

1. As a Landlord of a property that is in a Strata Scheme try to attend at least 1 meeting per annum to keep up to date with what is happening within the Scheme.
2. Read any minutes that you receive from your Strata Manager & forward to your Managing Agent if managed by a Real Estate so they are aware
3. If you receive a Levy notice that is significantly more than the usual quarterly levy – this is a sure bet that there is something in the pipeline Investigate