CHIA WA submission to the Leasehold Strata Titles Regulations Discussion Paper

On 14 February 2019, CHIA WA and Shelter WA made a joint submission providing feedback on Landgate’s Discussion Paper for leasehold strata schemes.

The Discussion Paper presents a new and important opportunity for strata development and more importantly the provision of affordable housing options in Western Australia, with potentially wide-reaching opportunities from this new form of strata title.

The submission made 4 key recommendations as follows:

1. There should be no lower time limit, i.e. 20 years, to leasehold strata schemes and the ability to create short-term leasehold strata schemes should be widened to everyone, not just the Housing Authority or any other government agency.
2. There is no core need for a formula to be included in the regulations, rather there should be flexibility for both lessor and lessee, when putting the scheme together, to negotiate the by-laws when developing the scheme.
3. We support the recommendation for the ‘not to be unreasonably withheld clause’, provided it is very clear that it would be reasonable to withhold if the result would be the property would be lost to affordable housing for the duration of the lease.
4. In terms of disclosure at the time of transacting with a leasehold strata scheme, we strongly recommend information be provided to the buyer to ensure they understand what they are purchasing.

The full submission can be read here.