Property Law & Strata

Certain foreign persons are no longer required to pay surcharge purchaser duty and surcharge land tax (“the Surcharges”) when purchasing residential land in NSW. Those who paid are now eligible to receive refunds on any Surcharges paid on or after 21 July 2021.

The NSW Government determined that the State’s Surcharges were infringing upon international tax treaties, which Australia is a party of and are in force under federal law. As a result, Citizens of New Zealand, Finland, Germany, and South Africa can make a claim for a refund of the Surcharges they had paid. Otherwise, NSW Revenue is proactively searching for and contacting those who may be eligible. [...]  READ MORE →

Thousands of first home buyers in New South Wales will now be able to unlock the dream of home ownership sooner after the Property Tax (First Home Buyer Choice) Act 2022 (“the Act”) received assent from the Governor on 11 November 2022.

The Act allows an eligible person to opt to pay an annual property tax rather than stamp duty when buying their first home.

The concept of the property tax was first raised by NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet in July 2020 as a mechanism to abolish stamp duty and land tax and replace it with a single annual property tax. The concept relies on a long transitional period initially  beginning with first home buyers who can choose to place the property being purchased into the property tax system. [...]  READ MORE →

New legislation has been enacted in NSW which makes some important changes to the NSW duties and land tax provisions. The State Revenue and Fines Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous) Act 2022 (the Act), which received Royal Assent on 19 May 2022, has seen a number of taxpayer-unfriendly changes made to the Duties Act 1997 (Duties Act) and Land Tax Management Act 1956, which include but are not limited to:

changes in beneficial ownership (beyond those transactions already listed under current rules) will become subject to duty; [...]  READ MORE →

On 11 October 2021, all certificates of title will be cancelled and all dealings will be lodged electronically.

What this means for land owners:

• No more certificates of title after settlement or after paying off mortgages;
• The legal remedy for requiring the return of certificates of title from others is abolished;
• The public cannot lodge dealings on land without assistance from a property lawyer or conveyancer (most are PEXA subscribers).
• People wishing to lodge a dealing over land must have their identity verified by the PEXA subscriber and must establish their right to deal with their land.
• Verification of identity involves an in person meeting with the PEXA Subscriber and inspection of identification documents.
• Establishing the right to deal with land involves providing evidence of ownership (e. g current rates notice, land tax assessment etc).

Short-term letting – Updated Code of Conduct

The Code of Conduct for the short-term rental accommodation industry was updated on 28 May 2021. Landlords providing short term rental accommodation must comply with the Code of Conduct or face penalties of up 1,000 penalty units for corporate owners or up to 200 penalty units for individuals (one penalty unit is equal to $110).

The key elements of the Code of Conduct are: [...]  READ MORE →

Building Defects and Part 11 Protections for Strata Owners

We have previously written an article about the new duty of care protection in favour of property and strata owners, which is available under the new Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 NSW (DBPA). Basically, it establishes a new duty of care against various building practitioners, retrospectively, covering losses arising from the last 10 years or so. However, that is not the only remedy available (of course). The issue of building defects have been around for a very long time and the legislation have been changing constantly, especially for strata buildings. [...]  READ MORE →