NSW's Fourth Strata Reform Bill Has Passed: The New Protections and Rights for Owners

The short version

• The Strata Schemes Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous) Bill, introduced in November 2025, has passed NSW Parliament and received assent. It is the fourth tranche of strata reforms since 2023.
• Two-lot schemes (most duplexes) will no longer need to form a committee, hold meetings or report annually to NSW Fair Trading.
• Owners corporations will face fair limits on bonds and fees. A swipe-card bond far above the card's replacement cost will no longer be allowed.
• Owners get a right to install EV charging on their own lot without an unreasonable objection from the committee.
• NSW Fair Trading can publish compliance action against owners corporations, so buyers can see repair and maintenance problems before they buy.
• NCAT can terminate a building management agreement where the building manager breaches their duties, including hiding commissions.
• The changes start in stages. Some took effect on assent. Others wait for a proclamation date, so check before you act on any single item.

If you live in one of the roughly 1.2 million NSW apartments and duplexes, this bill touches you whether or not you sit on a committee. Most of it fills gaps the earlier tranches left open: who can charge you what, who can block what, and what a buyer gets to see.

What is the fourth strata reform bill?

It is the last major piece of the program that implements the 2021 statutory review of NSW strata and community land laws. The government calls it the fourth tranche. Strata lawyers have been calling it the final wave.

The earlier tranches dealt with the big structural problems: levy hardship, insurance commissions, developer handover, Fair Trading's enforcement powers. This one is broader and more practical. Bannermans Lawyers' summary of the bill lists more than a dozen areas it amends, including:

• two-lot strata schemes
• managing agent and building manager appointments
• EV charging stations
• bonds and fees charged to occupiers
• publication of compliance notices and other information
• levy recovery, including payment plans and notices
• expanded and confirmed Tribunal powers
• work to common property, including minor and cosmetic work
• owners corporation obligations, including window safety devices
• exclusive supply agreements
• a new Strata Hub fund
• strata management statements, building management statements and building management committees
• higher penalties for a range of offences

1. 01
   Less red tape for duplexes
2. 02
   Fair limits on bonds and fees
3. 03
   A right to EV charging
4. 04
   Compliance action made public
5. 05
   NCAT can end bad manager deals

What changes for duplexes and other two-lot schemes?

Two-lot schemes make up more than 30 per cent of NSW strata schemes. Until now they carried the same paperwork as a 200-lot tower: a committee, general meetings and annual reporting to Fair Trading.

The 1 October 2026 changes already removed the annual Strata Hub reporting obligation for two-lot schemes. The new bill goes further. Two-lot schemes will no longer need to form a committee or hold meetings either.

What this does not change: the two owners still own common property together, and it still needs insuring, maintaining and repairing. The duty does not disappear just because the meeting does. If you own half of a duplex, the practical risk shifts from "we forgot the AGM" to "we never agreed who pays for the roof." Put repair and insurance arrangements in writing between the two of you, even if the law no longer asks for minutes.

Strata managers who look after many duplexes will need to rethink what they are being paid for. If your scheme pays a management fee mainly to run meetings that are no longer required, it is a fair question to raise at renewal. Our guide to reading a strata management proposal covers what to look for.

What are the new limits on bonds and fees?

The bill sets fair limits on when an owners corporation can charge residents a bond or fee. The example the government gave is the one most residents have run into: an access key or swipe card bond set far above what it costs to replace the card. That will no longer be allowed.

Expect the same logic to apply to other charges residents pay to the owners corporation, such as move-in bonds and lift booking fees. A bond should cover the cost of a real risk, not act as a revenue line or a deterrent.

If your building's by-laws or house rules set bonds, now is the time to check them against what the items actually cost. Committees should pull the current invoice for a replacement fob and compare. Our guides to digital keys, fobs and intercoms and move-in bonds and lift bookings explain where these charges usually sit.

Do owners now have a right to install EV charging?

Yes, on their own lot. Owners can install electric vehicle charging on their lot without fear of an unreasonable objection from the strata committee.

This builds on the July 2025 changes, which stopped by-laws from blocking sustainability infrastructure such as solar panels and EV chargers because of how they look from outside. That closed one excuse. This bill moves the default: the owner has the right, and the committee needs a good reason to object.

"Reasonable" will still matter. A committee can still raise genuine concerns about electrical load, fire safety, cabling routes through common property and who pays for metering. What it cannot do is say no because it would rather not deal with it. Owners should put a clear proposal in writing: the installer, the circuit, the cable path, the load assessment and who maintains it. A proposal like that is hard to refuse unreasonably. Our EV charging approval guide walks through what to include.

Will buyers be able to see compliance action against a building?

They will. NSW Fair Trading gets increased powers to publish compliance action taken against owners corporations. A prospective buyer will be able to find out whether a building has been in trouble over repairs and maintenance.

This connects to two earlier changes. From 27 October 2025, Fair Trading can issue compliance notices and enter enforceable undertakings with owners corporations that fail to maintain common property. From 1 April 2026, the strata information certificate (the section 184 certificate) must disclose orders and compliance action. Publication means the information is no longer only inside the certificate a buyer orders late in the process. It can be found earlier, and by anyone.

For committees, the message is simple. Ignoring a defect is now a reputation problem for every owner who wants to sell, not only a legal one. The cheapest way to stay off a public list is to deal with repairs before Fair Trading is involved. See our guide on forcing a strata scheme to fix a defect for how the process runs, and our section 184 certificate guide for what buyers already see.

When can NCAT end a building management agreement?

The bill gives NCAT power to order the termination of a building management agreement where the building manager breaches their duties. That includes a building manager who fails to disclose that they receive commissions.

Building managers picked up new duties on 27 October 2025: duties around safety, repair and maintenance, disclosure, and acting in the scheme's best interests. Candidates must also declare benefits that could affect what they charge. The missing piece was a clear consequence. A long caretaker agreement with an undisclosed commission arrangement was hard to get out of. Now there is a direct path.

If you suspect your building manager is earning commissions from contractors or suppliers you were not told about, start collecting evidence: invoices, contractor relationships, the disclosure the manager gave at appointment. Our building manager and caretaker audit is a good starting checklist, and do we need a building manager? helps if you are weighing whether to replace the role at all.

What else is in the bill?

Several changes are less visible but still matter.

• Levy recovery and payment plans. The bill adjusts the rules on payment plans and levy notices, building on the October 2025 hardship protections. Owners in financial hardship must already be offered a payment plan before debt recovery starts. See can't pay your strata levies?
• Work to common property. Further changes to how owners get approval for minor and cosmetic work. Our 2026 renovation approvals guide covers the rules that already apply.
• Window safety devices. New obligations on owners corporations around window safety devices.
• Exclusive supply agreements. More rules on embedded networks and other exclusive supply contracts. See our embedded network explainer.
• Building management committees. Changes affecting schemes that share a building with other uses under a strata or building management statement, including the allocation of shared expenses.
• Higher penalties for a range of offences, and a new Strata Hub fund.

Detailed guidance on each of these has not yet been published by Fair Trading. Treat the summaries above as direction, not the final rule, until the guidance and commencement dates are out.

When do the changes start?

In stages. Some provisions took effect when the bill received assent. The rest start on dates to be set by proclamation.

A few provisions of the earlier Strata Schemes Legislation Amendment Act 2025 are also still waiting for a start date. According to Bannermans Lawyers, these include changes to the recovery of unpaid contributions and interest, and prescribed warranties for contracts for exclusive supply networks. Some of these are designed to start before the related parts of the new bill.

The practical approach: do not change your by-laws, fees or committee arrangements based on a press release. Wait for Fair Trading's guidance on each item, check the commencement date, then act. Our reform timeline is updated as dates are confirmed.

How does this fit with the first three tranches?

The fourth bill sits on top of a large body of reform already in force. Briefly, the earlier tranches:

• require payment plans to be offered to owners in financial hardship before debt recovery, and ban blanket rules refusing payment plan requests
• require developers' initial levy estimates in new buildings to be independently certified, with higher penalties for getting it wrong
• introduce itemised insurance quotes, so owners can see what goes to agents and brokers in commissions and fees
• make minor renovations easier to approve
• stop by-laws blocking solar panels and EV charging because of external appearance
• require a second quote for work costing more than $30,000
• ban strata managing agents from taking insurance commissions where they played no part in finding the best deal
• increase penalties for managing agents who fail to disclose conflicts of interest or kickbacks
• let Fair Trading issue compliance notices and enter enforceable undertakings over common property repairs

The common thread is transparency about money and accountability for repairs. Our guides to insurance commissions and disbursements and auditing your strata manager's commissions go deeper on the money side.

What should owners and committees do now?

A short list for the next few months.

• Duplex owners: agree in writing how you will share insurance, repairs and decisions now that committees and meetings are going away.
• Committees: list every bond and fee your building charges and compare each to the real cost. Fix the outliers before someone complains.
• Committees: if an owner has asked for EV charging and been refused, look at the reasons again. Make sure any objection would hold up as reasonable.
• Committees: check your outstanding repair and maintenance items. Anything that could lead to Fair Trading compliance action will soon be visible to buyers.
• Owners: if you think your building manager has undisclosed commissions, start keeping records now.
• Everyone: watch for Fair Trading guidance and commencement dates before changing by-laws or contracts.

How UnitBuddy helps

UnitBuddy is software for the building itself, owned and run by the people who live in and own it. Most of what this bill asks for comes down to records: what you charge and why, what repairs are outstanding, what your building manager disclosed, and who agreed to what.

UnitBuddy keeps the maintenance log, contractor history, by-laws and decisions in one place, so a committee can answer "what does a fob cost us?" or "when did we first report that leak?" in a minute rather than an evening. When a rule changes, you can see exactly which records it touches.

Keep the scheme file in one place the committee and the manager can both open. Features, pricing, or book a tour.