The final round of amendments contained in the Strata Schemes Legislation Amendment Act 2025 (NSW) (2025 Amendment Act) took effect on 1 April 2026 as part of ongoing New South Wales strata reforms.
This update summarises the key changes relevant to developers and builders delivering residential strata and looks ahead to further changes currently being considered by NSW Parliament.
Further changes to NSW strata laws have taken effect from 1 April 2026 following earlier stages of reform in 2025. Developers and builders delivering residential strata need to comply with strengthened maintenance, certification, record keeping and disclosure obligations, and may face further requirements under legislation currently before NSW Parliament.
Where we have come from – amendments that took effect in 2025
The 2025 Amendment Act was introduced in three stages – 1 July 2025, 27 October 2025 and the last lot of changes with effect from 1 April 2026. Many of the reforms focussed on lot owner rights, management and repair obligations of owners corporations and enforcement including increase in powers for the Department of Fair Trading to enter into strata schemes, carry out inspections and issue notices in respect of failure to properly repair and maintain a strata scheme.
Changes relevant to developers that took effect in the earlier stages include:
- unfair contract protections: to codify that the Australian Consumer Law unfair contract terms regime applies to contracts entered into by owners corporations, including with developers. Developers providing ongoing services to owners corporations need to be careful to ensure that agreements with owners corporations are market standard, fair and reasonable and do not unfairly benefit the developer or its related party. If such contracts meet the unfairness thresholds in the Australian Consumer Law, they may be voided or give rise to civil‑penalty exposure; and
- limits on the terms of embedded and other utilities agreements: to make it clear that restrictions on the duration of utilities agreements with owners corporations have been expanded to embedded electricity network, telecommunication, electric vehicle charging and various other service agreements. This limits the ability of developers to bind owners corporations to long term supply agreements, which in turn impacts the ability of utilities providers to recover delivery costs from owners corporations over the medium to long term. Such delivery costs are the responsibility of developers and cannot be clawed back.
What’s new – further amendments that took effect on 1 April 2026
Several further changes impacting developers and builders under the 2025 Amendment Act have now taken effect on and from 1 April, including:
- form of initial maintenance schedules: a new mandatory form for developers’ initial maintenance schedules will come into effect, to provide greater clarity and certainty for owners corporations in planning inspections and maintenance;
- multi-storey scheme certifications: where a strata scheme is multi-storey, an independent surveyor must be retained by the developer to confirm that the initial maintenance schedule is in prescribed form and estimates of contributions to the administrative fund and capital works fund meet the expected expenditure for the year ahead;
- evidence/records: in addition to the records which must be provided to a strata scheme before the first annual general meeting, evidence that estimates of contributions to the administrative fund and capital works fund meet the expected expenditure of the strata scheme by providing certification by a person with appropriate qualifications; and
- disclosure: strata information certificates must disclose details of embedded networks.
Where we are going – further legislation before NSW Parliament
The Fair Trading and Building Legislation Amendment Act 2026 (NSW) (2026 Bill) is currently before the NSW Parliament. The 2026 Bill proposes to amend 22 Acts, including the Home Building Act 1989 (NSW), potentially bringing in several further changes relevant for developers and builders in the strata space, including:
- decennial insurance: broadening the scope of the ten year defects insurance policies available (but not yet mandatory) for developers of multi-storey residential buildings. It is proposed that these insurance products will be required to provide coverage for a broader scope of “relevant defects” rather than the more limited list of “major defects” currently stipulated; and
- Building Administration Fund: establishing a new fund, financed in part by fees under building legislation, to administer building legislation and resolve disputes.
While the 2026 Bill has passed the lower house, further changes could be put in place by the upper house, given the ongoing trend towards greater protection for owners in relation to new building work and ongoing management of buildings.
