NSW planning for strata law review

Residential property investors in the state of New South Wales will want to keep an eye on a planned review of the state's strata laws.

Strata laws were established 50 years ago in NSW and are the oldest of their kind in the world, according to the Property Council of Australia.

A three-month consultation into the state's strata laws has now been announced by state minister for fair trading Anthony Robbins, which will continue until February 29.

Any review to NSW's strata laws is likely to affect a significant number of people, including residential tenants, property managers and anyone considering a Sydney property investment.

The NSW branch of the Property Council of Australia estimates that there are more than 70,000 strata and 1,500 community schemes across the state, which are home to roughly two million people.

Furthermore, Robbins estimates that within the next two decades, more than half of the entire state's population will live in this type of scheme, which includes retirement villages, tourism developments, townhouses, city high rises and dual occupancies, among many others.

The online community consultation was opened by Global Access Partners, a public policy think-tank, on December 15 and everyone is encouraged to contribute with opinions, shared experiences or to raise specific concerns and issues. Contributors are also asked to share any possible solutions to issues raised by others.

Following the consultation, the NSW government will carry out a comprehensive review of these lases - as well as community title laws - in the middle of the year.
 
Interested members of the public can also register their email addresses with the NSW Department of Fair Trading to be kept informed of the latest updates on the review.

Looking forward to the rest of the year, Loan Market spokesperson Paul Smith anticipates that December's second rate cut by the Reserve Bank of Australia will continue to boost momentum in the NSW property market throughout the summer.

Speaking earlier this month, he remarked that the first rate cut in November represented a "turning point" in the market that was further boosted by a second cut in December.

He also pointed to the possibility that further rate cuts could be made when the Reserve Bank meets again for the first time in 2012 in the first week of February.

Smith concluded that consumers are generally more "upbeat" than they were at this time last year, in spite of lingering worries about the European debt crisis and its impact on the banking sector in Australia.