Public consultation opens on WA’s newest form of land tenure

• Community titles to provide an important new land tenure option for mixed-use developments in WA
• Feedback on the draft community titles regulations is being sought over the next month until December 9
• The draft regulations support the Community Titles Act 2018, which is expected to commence by mid-2021

Lands Minister Ben Wyatt has today released the draft Community Titles Regulations 2020 for public comment, moving Western Australia closer to the expected introduction of community schemes next year.

Community schemes will provide WA's property sector with a valuable new option for delivering complex and mixed-use developments.

They will include features of strata and survey-strata schemes, which continue to operate under the recently amended Strata Titles Act 1985, but with some important distinctions.

Community schemes will allow for a mix of both land schemes and building schemes within the same community scheme. They will also enable different land uses such as residential, retail and commercial, to be combined under one scheme through multiple sub-schemes, each with their own management body and by-laws.

This tenure is likely to benefit future mixed-use developments, by supporting different types of schemes to more effectively co-exist within the same overarching scheme. One of the most anticipated flow-on benefits from a community scheme structure is a fairer and more efficient approach to how common property is managed across mixed-use schemes.

Developers will be able to incorporate community schemes into their new planning proposals once the Community Titles Act 2018 takes effect, which is expected to occur by mid-2021 pending feedback received on the draft regulations.

Information and resources on community titles, including the draft regulations, are available through http://www.strata.wa.gov.au

Comments attributed to Lands Minister Ben Wyatt:

"Community schemes will offer a smart new land tenure option for mixed-use developments in Western Australia.

"This tenure option has immense possibility, creating exciting opportunities for future developments that can more efficiently allocate land, common property and shared facilities across multiple uses, such as shops, restaurants, offices and residential development.

"The introduction of this new legislation has been long-supported by WA's property sector and I welcome their continued feedback during this final phase of consultation."