On 20 June 2011 the long awaited new Unit Titles Act will come into force. The Unit Titles Act 2010 is a complete rewrite of the old 1972 Act.
The new Act has a couple of main aims. One is to update the Act as unit title developments are more sophisticated than the old Act ever envisaged. The second is to ensure that body corporates are run more effectively and that the owners and purchasers of units have better information on which to make decisions.
The new Act has a much greater focus on consumer protection and everyone dealing with unit title developments will need to understand the new disclosure requirements, the new long-term planning requirements for maintenance of the assets and the new way that body corporates and their committees will operate. All of these changes will bring much more clarity around the cost of ownership of unit title properties but are also likely to increase the cost of ownership depending on the scale of the development. Body corporate managers will have much more responsibility under the new Act and will need to adapt quickly to the new environment.
At 233 sections, the new Act is three times larger than the 1972 Act and anyone working with unit titles will need to understand the new Act well. To help with this, Buddle Findlay has produced a detailed guide to the new Act which can be read here.
