The final outstanding amendments to unit titles legislation and regulations under the Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2022 came into force on 9 May 2024.

We outline the most substantive changes below.

Long Term Maintenance Plans

Body Corporates are (as they were previously) required to establish and regularly maintain a long term maintenance plan which identifies the long-term maintenance required for the complex and how the Body Corporate will fund the work.

A key change is that Body Corporates which have 10 or more units must have a long term maintenance plan covering 30 years from the date of the plan, or the last review of the plan.  Previously they were required to cover 10 years.

Long term maintenance plans are still required to be reviewed every 3 years.

The new Regulation provides for additional information to be included in the long term maintenance plan. Plans will now have to include a summary of the current state of the common property and will have to state the sources of funding for the plan.

Notice of meetings

Notices for annual general meetings and extraordinary meetings must now set out how unit owners can attend the meeting by remote access facility and set out the electronic voting information.

Electronic voting

Body Corporates must now take reasonable steps to enable eligible voters to vote by electronic means and take reasonable steps to verify the identity of persons purporting to cast an electronic vote.

Electronic votes must be cast in the manner specified in the electronic voting information set out in the notice of meeting.

Electronic voting must be made available to eligible voters from, at the latest, the last day on which the notice of meeting could have been issued. The following rules regarding electronic voting have also been inserted:

• If the text of a motion to be decided by resolution at a general meeting is materially amended at the meeting, an electronic vote cast on the motion before the amendment is made must not be counted. However, this vote can still count for the purpose of calculating quorum; and
• If a general meeting is adjourned, an electronic vote relating to the meeting remains valid for the purpose of the reconvened meeting, unless the voter who cast the vote attends the reconvened meeting in person or by proxy.

Retention of documents

Body Corporates and their managers must now retain the prescribed documents (or copies) for at least three years. The prescribed documents should be produced to the Regulator (MBIE) on request.

The prescribed documents are:

• Bank statements for any bank accounts established and maintained by the Body Corporate;
• Financial statements and any audit reports relating to the financial statements;
• Any valuation report from a registered valuer relating to an assessment of ownership interests for the unit title development;
• A completed copy of any forms 3 to 7 of Schedule 2 that relate to the unit title development;
• Any document that contains information about the imposition of levies by, and payment of, levies to the Body Corporate;
• The long-term maintenance plan;
• Any remediation report, or any report about earthquake-prone issues or other significant defects in the land that relates to the unit title development on which it is situated;
• Any notice given by a Body Corporate to enter a unit for repair or maintenance;
• A register of unit owners and previous versions of the register;
• Notices, agendas, and minutes of the Body Corporate meetings and any Body Corporate Committee meetings;
• Contact details of the Body Corporate’s chairperson, Committee chairperson, manager, and the previous manager;
• Any notice of designated resolution;
• Any notice of delegation from the Body Corporate to the Body Corporate committee and any report from the Committee on their exercise of their delegated duties and powers;
• Any document containing the details of any insurance policy held by the Body Corporate;
• Any document filed in any proceedings in any court or tribunal that the Body Corporate is involved in;
• The written agreement setting out the Body Corporate manager’s terms of employment or engagement;
• The Body Corporate’s operational rules and any previous versions of the rules;
• Any document that sets out any current warranties from third parties for common property, assets owned by the Body Corporate, or building elements and infrastructure of the unit title development;
• Any notice of resolution to be decided without a general meeting;
• Any notice requiring a unit owner to sign any document to carry out a resolution;
• The interests registers for the Body Corporate and Body Corporate Committee; and
• Any service contract that has been entered into by the Body Corporate.

If you are part of a Body Corporate and are unsure of your obligations, or what these new changes mean for your Body Corporate, you should seek legal advice from a legal professional to ensure you are in compliance with your obligations.

Leading law firms committed to helping clients cost-effectively will have a range of fixed-price Initial Consultations to suit most people’s needs in quickly learning what their options are.  At Rainey Collins we have an experienced team who can answer your questions and put you on the right track.