New Legislation - Unit Titles Act 2010
The Unit Titles Act is the law governing building developments where multiple owners hold a type of property ownership known as a unit title. Such building developments are typically apartment blocks, townhouses, office blocks and industrial or retail complexes.
Collectively, all the unit owners in a building development make up a body corporate. The body corporate has responsibility for a range of management, financial and administrative matters relating to the common property and to the building as a whole.
On the 19th April 2010 the Unit Titles Bill received its Royal Assent, where the Governor-General assents to the bill becoming law.
The Regulations to support the Unit Titles Act 2010 were publically released on the 12th of May 2011. The 2010 Act and supporting Regulations will come into force on the 20th June 2011. You can download both the Act and the Regulations below as a PDF or alternatively view them online by clicking here.
The Unit Titles Act 2010 makes a number of changes to the Unit Titles Act 1972, including clause 116 & 117 below:
Clause 116 - Long-term maintenance plan
- A body corporate must establish and regularly maintain a long-term maintenance plan.
- A long-term maintenance plan must cover a period of at least 10 years from the date of the plan or the last review of the plan.
- The purpose of a long-term maintenance plan is to—
- identify future maintenance requirements and estimate the costs involved; and
- support the establishment and management of the funds; and
- provide a basis for the levying of owners of principal units; and
- provide ongoing guidance to the body corporate to assist it in making its annual maintenance decisions.
Clause 117 - Long-term maintenance fund
- A body corporate must establish and maintain a long-term maintenance fund unless the body corporate, by special resolution, decides not to establish a long-term maintenance fund.
- The fund may only be applied towards spending relating to the long-term maintenance plan.
- The body corporate must, by special resolution, approve any amount to be spent on any 1 maintenance item if the amount exceeds the amount specified for that item in the long-term maintenance plan by more than 10%.
You can download a PDF copy of both the Unit Titles Act 2010 and Regulations by entering your name and email address below.
A reserve study from Property Reserve Planning is your key tool to help you
manage your properties long term maintenance requirements, whilst complying with
the new legislation.
To find out what type of LTMP is best suited for you please
click here.
Click to read the full review of the
Unit Titles Act 1972.
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