There is no requirement that an owners corporation keep a notice board on the common property, unless the by-laws for the strata scheme require it to. Accordingly, if a scheme does not have a by-law requiring the keeping (and use) of a notice board, the scheme does not have to comply with requirements under the 2015 Act to use the notice board to display notices and/or orders.
When the Strata Titles Act 1973 commenced on 1 July 1974, it did not require schemes to keep a noticeboard, however, the model by-laws provided for by that Act did. This meant that, unless a scheme was registered without the model by-laws, or unless the scheme chose to repeal the model by-law, they were required to keep a notice board.
When the 1973 Act was repealed and replaced with the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996, like the old Act, the new 1996 Act did not require the keeping of a notice board, but left it up to the by-laws to manage the keeping of notice boards. Under the 1996 Act, the model by-laws for newly registered residential schemes did include a by-law to keep a notice board. However, between 1996 and 2016, the regulations under the 1996 Act, which managed by-laws other than those in schedule 1 of the 1996 Act, were amended on a number of occasions. The amendments provided options to developers to choose from a suite of model by-laws (e.g. by-laws for residential schemes, commercial schemes, or industrial schemes). In most cases, these model by-laws did not include a by-law requiring the keeping of a notice board.
When the 1996 Act was repealed and replaced with the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 Act, the 2015 Act kept with tradition and did not require the keeping of a notice board. The model by-laws for schemes registered after 30 November 2016, the commencement of the 2015 Act, also did not include a by-law requiring the keeping of a notice board.
In doing so the legislature has sought to phase out the use of and reliance on notice boards. This is no doubt because communication methods have advanced.
So, if a scheme has a notice board, does it need to be used? The answer is yes if the scheme has a by-law that requires a notice board to be kept.
We note that the 2015 Act uses inconsistent language around the use of notice boards. In some sections it refers to requiring an owners corporation to “[display notices of committee meetings in large scheme on the] notice board (if any)”, and in other sections it refers to “[display notice for committee meetings on a] notice board required to be maintained under the by-laws” and “[display NCAT orders] on the notice board of the owners corporation”. Each of these sections read in isolation give a different impression of what the requirement is for the keeping of a notice board. However, what is consistent in the language, is that the owners corporation is given a second option for conveying the information referred to in each of those sections. Accordingly, the legislation clearly makes provision for, and understands, that notice boards are no longer par for the course and in most cases, unlikely to be used as a primary form of communication.
This is general information and should not be considered to be legal advice. You should obtain legal advice specific to your individual situation.
Author: Gemma Lumley