NSW: Q&As Strata Hub: What do you need to know?

This NSW Q&A article is about the requirements for the new Strata Hub, an initiative of the NSW Government. What do you need to know about strata hub reporting? When is the second round of reporting due?

Table of Contents:

• QUESTION: When is the second annual reporting due for the NSW strata hub? When can we start the reporting process?
• QUESTION: Are there any How To instructions for NSW Strata Hub reporting? We don’t have a strata manager and we don’t know what to do.
• QUESTION: How do I re-establish a NSW strata scheme that became defunct years ago? There are no records or funds for the property. We are aware of the Strata Hub annual reporting requirements.
• QUESTION: Reading through the loads of information that will be required for the new Strata Hub reporting, are we required to provide details of an Annual Fire Safety Statement?
• QUESTION: What are the relevant cut off dates for reporting on the Strata Hub? We have a strata manager but we’d like to do the reporting ourselves.
• QUESTION: Our Strata Manager insists on using a single first point of contact to liaise with regarding strata matters for the coming year. Is this usual?

Question: When is the second annual reporting due for the NSW strata hub? When can we start the reporting process?

Answer: Your second reporting deadline is due within 3 months of holding your AGM.

If you’re a NSW strata manager, or part of a scheme that reported to the strata hub for 2022, your next steps are to:

1. Start your second annual report: complete via the Strata Hub within three months of your 2023 annual general meeting (AGM)
2. Review and update details
3. Complete the declaration and pay the $3 fee.

Penalties of up to $5,500 may apply for not completing the first strata report by 30 June 2023, and up to $2,200 for not updating previously reported information. Your second reporting deadline is due within 3 months of holding your AGM.

The LookUpStrata Team

Question: Are there any How To instructions for NSW Strata Hub reporting? We don’t have a strata manager and we don’t know what to do.

Answer: The NSW Strata Hub user guide contains instructional videos, FAQs and a checklist to help with the reporting process.

Whether you are in a large or small strata scheme, the NSW Government has guides to help you understand and meet your strata reporting requirements. You can take a look at the Strata Hub login and reporting user guide here.

This guide includes a How to register instructional video plus, a How to set up your profile video. It also contains a checklist of steps to complete the reporting process and a list of FAQs. Deadline for completing the NSW strata hub reporting is the end of December 2022.

The LookUpStrata Team

Question: How do I re-establish a NSW strata scheme that became defunct years ago? There are no records or funds for the property. We are aware of the Strata Hub annual reporting requirements.

How do I re-establish a NSW strata scheme that became defunct quite a long time ago? There does not seem to be any records or funds for the property. The owners of one of the lots have changed several times and the owner of the other lot has dementia and lacks legal capacity but does have a power of attorney in force. I imagine there are many 2-lot schemes in this situation and they will be flushed out by the Strata Hub annual reporting requirement.

I have a copy of the strata plan and a title search for the common property, but that’s it.

Answer: I strongly suggest you seek help from a suitably qualified and licensed Strata Manager to assist you with this process.

We often pick up self manage schemes with little to no records. When this happens, we start our usual process from scratch, which is:

• Work with an owner to set up and convene an Extraordinary General Meeting to appoint us as Strata Managers
• Set up the books and records of the Strata Scheme
• Call the First Annual General Meeting or an Annual General Meeting to do all the usual things that a Strata Scheme is legally required to do which include:
  
  • Accept the last minutes
  • Accept and vote on the the budget
  • Adopt the financial statements
  • Confirm the insurances
  • Elect the strata committee
  • How to deal with overdue strata levies

By having a strata committee and adopting levies and a budget, there is the ability for the strata scheme to function, pay invoices, maintain common property and conduct its business.

We can then prioritise any outstanding items and get to work.

I strongly suggest that you look to get the help from a suitably qualified and licensed Strata Manager to assist you with this process.

Rod Smith
The Strata Collective
E: rsmith@thestratacollective.com.au
P: 02 9879 3547

This post appears in Strata News #623.

Question: Reading through the loads of information that will be required for the new Strata Hub reporting, are we required to provide details of an Annual Fire Safety Statement?

We have a small self-managed strata of 7 single-story villas under a single roof. Each villa is individually owned and used for private residential occupation. I am the treasurer/secretary of the strata and getting ready for the new reporting etc. under the Strata Hub.

Reading through the loads of information that will be required, I noted that we will be required to have an Annual Fire Safety Statement and provide the date of issue of the most recent one. Is this correct?

This is something that our strata have not obtained previously and sounds like an expensive exercise.

Answer: If the complex has fire equipment of most any type installed, it should be having an Annual Fire Safety Statement prepared.

Rob Broadhead, 2020 Fire Protection:

If the complex has Essential Fire Safety Measures (fire equipment of most any type) installed, it should be having an Annual Fire Safety Statement (AFSS) prepared to meet the owners’ obligations under the law irrespective of whether council requests it.

Unfortunately, I don’t have sufficient knowledge of the Strata Portal to comment on whether the AFSS is a mandatory document if it doesn’t yet exist.

I highly recommend the owners commence this journey as it is a process ensuring the continuing performance of important fire systems designed to keep you safe when you least expect it.

Leanne Habib, Premium Strata:

The Strata Schemes Management Amendment (Information) Regulation 2021 (NSW) which amends the Strata Schemes Management Regulation 2016 (NSW), Clause 43 A(1)(j) states “if an annual fire safety statement has been issued under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 for a building of the strata scheme—the date the most recent statement was issued”.

Therefore, the date must be supplied if there has been an AFSS issued. In your case, you do not have one but we strongly endorse Rob Broadhead’s recommendation that the scheme take steps to improve its fire safety especially before Council issues you with an Order to do so (as we have seen happen in the past).

Rob Broadhead
2020 Fire Protection
E: rob.broadhead@2020fire.com.au
P: 1300 340 210

Leanne Habib
Premium Strata
E: info@premiumstrata.com.au
P: 02 9281 6440

This post appears in Strata News #599.

Question: What are the relevant cut off dates for reporting on the Strata Hub? We have a strata manager but we’d like to do the reporting ourselves.

We live in a block of nine units in Maroubra, NSW. We have a strata manager, but to save on costs of up to 3 hours at $210 per hour, we’d like to do the Strata Hub registration and report ourselves.

What are the relevant cut off dates for reporting on the Strata Hub, as information is not clear? One article tells us to report by September 2022 at the latest, another one mentions the end of June 2023 as the cut off.

Answer: Strata schemes are encouraged to complete their first report by the end of December. Penalties may apply if schemes don’t meet their reporting requirements by 30 June 2023.

The Strata Hub Team has provided a Communications Toolkit to assist buildings with their reporting.

The toolkit can be accessed and downloaded here: Start your strata reporting August 2022

In this document they state:

“Strata schemes are encouraged to complete their first report by the end of December. Penalties may apply if schemes don’t meet their reporting requirements by 30 June 2023.”

They have set up a help email address if you require further information: stratasystem@customerservice.nsw.gov.au

The LookUpStrata Team

This post appears in Strata News #597.

Question: Our Strata Manager insists on using a single first point of contact to liaise with regarding strata matters for the coming year. Is this usual?

In our complex of 22 owners, we recently held our AGM. Of the 6 owners who were at the meeting, 3 owners volunteered to serve on the committee.

Our Strata Manager insists on using a single first point of contact to liaise with regarding strata matters for the coming year.

Answer: The Strata Hub requires an “emergency contact person” who is nominated by the owners corporation as a contact for the strata scheme if there is an emergency.

Previously there was no express requirement under the NSW strata legislation for anyone to be appointed or nominated to or fill such a “First Point of Contact” role or liaison person by resolution (vote) or otherwise. Strata managers can appreciate the usefulness of such person for administration and communication purposes, especially where agreed to by the Owners Corporation, noting that the person would have no additional voting or other powers.

Since the advent of Strata Hub, while called an “emergency contact person” and defined as a person who is nominated by the owners corporation, with the person’s consent, as a contact for the strata scheme if there is an emergency, such appointments of “emergency contact persons” or “First Point of Contact” persons will now be required.

Leanne Habib
Premium Strata
E: info@premiumstrata.com.au
P: 02 9281 6440

This post appears in Strata News #591.

Have a question about Strata Hub or something to add to the article? Leave a comment below.

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Read next:

• NSW: Strata Hub: Strata Schemes Management Amendment (Information) Regulation 2021

This article is not intended to be personal advice and you should not rely on it as a substitute for any form of advice.

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