NSW: Q&A Are screen doors sustainability infrastructure in NSW strata schemes?

This article discusses whether items, such as screen doors, could be considered sustainability infrastructure in NSW under the SSMA.

Question: Does installing screen doors to improve airflow and reduce air conditioning use qualify as a sustainable practice under the SSMA?

Under the recent changes to the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 regarding sustainability, would installing screen doors to allow fresh air flow and reduce the use of air conditioning and fans qualify as a sustainable practice? I believe this would fit under NSW Fair Trading’s sustainability category 1, which covers reducing or improving the efficiency of energy or water consumption. Several units in my building have no windows in their bedrooms or living areas, only sliding glass doors.

Answer: Sustainability infrastructure changes require a special resolution with only 50% approval, and appearance-based by-laws cannot prevent them unless heritage protections apply.

In 2021, the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW) (“SSMA”) was amended by the Strata Schemes Management Amendment (Sustainability Infrastructure) Act 2021, introducing provisions in respect of sustainability infrastructure.

The definition of sustainability infrastructure is provided in section 132B(2) of the SSMA, meaning “changes to part of the common property (which includes the installation, removal, modification or replacement of anything on or forming part of that property) for any one or more of the following purposes—

1. to reduce the consumption of energy or water or to increase the efficiency of its consumption,
2. to reduce or prevent pollution,
3. to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill,
4. to increase the recovery or recycling of materials,
5. to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
6. to facilitate the use of sustainable forms of transport, Note. For example, installing electric vehicle charging stations.
7. a purpose prescribed by the regulations.”

The effect of these amendments in 2021 was that a change to common property to provide for sustainability infrastructure would only require a 50% majority to be specially resolved instead of the usual 75%, and it is otherwise still a “special resolution”, c.f. sections 5(1)(b)(ii) and 108(2) of the SSMA.

The recent 2025 amendments to the SSMA, introduced in the Strata Schemes Legislation Amendment Act 2025, state that by-laws which “prevent the installation of sustainability infrastructure solely for the purpose of preserving the external appearance of a lot or the common property” have no effect unless it is in respect of heritage property or areas, c.f. section 139B of the SSMA.

The SSMA does not contain any provision or requirement that owners corporations must install sustainability infrastructure to common property or to lot property.

Matthew Lo
Kerin Benson Lawyers
E: enquiries@kerinbensonlawyers.com.au
P: 02 8706 7060

This post appears in Strata News #759.

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Read next:

• NSW: Sustainability Infrastructure In Strata Schemes – The Good And The Bad
• NSW: Sustainability infrastructure: What is it & how has installing it been made easier?
• NSW: Q&A Responsibility to replace the screen door and front door

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