On 1 May 2020 amendments to the Strata Titles Act 1985 (STA) and consequential amendments to the Building Act 2011 (Building Act) and Building Regulations 2012 came into effect that streamline provisions of the Building Act dealing with strata proposals.  A number of Building Act forms have also been discontinued to reduce duplication and additional costs.

The discontinued forms are:

• BA11  Application for occupancy permit strata
• BA15  Application for building approval certificate strata
• BA12  Occupancy permit strata
• BA16  Building approval certificate strata

An application being lodged with Landgate to register or amend a scheme plan now only needs to be accompanied by a general occupancy permit (BA10) or a general building approval certificate (BA14) under the Building Act for each strata scheme building.  Whether an occupancy permit or building approval certificate is needed will depend on the building’s classification and circumstances as determined by the Building Act.

Importantly a strata proponent no longer needs to obtain an additional occupancy permit strata (BA12) in order to lodge a scheme plan application with Landgate.

Relevant Building Act forms are located under the ‘Building approvals’ section of the website and permit authorities have access to the forms on the website’s LG Extranet.

Further information on the legislative changes and new strata process is available in Building and Energy’s Industry Bulletin 127 “Streamlining strata registration”.