Light rail case could fast-track strata law changes

“Close to transport” is a big selling point for many homes – but you can be too close.

Residents of one block of units in Sydney’s Surry Hills have discovered they are in the way of the proposed light rail from Central Station to Randwick.

Now there are all sorts of plans to avoid having to demolish Olivia Gardens, a block of 63 homes that sits ominously between the end of Devonshire Street and Moore Park, the preferred route of the light rail.

Sydney City’s Cloverite MP Alex Greenwich has called for a tunnel under Surry Hills that will shorten the journey by five minutes. It will also, of course, take longer to build and be a lot more expensive.

Other options include running the light rail down one or both lanes on either side of the Olivia Gardens block. That said, the thought of trams rumbling past every five minutes may be enough to have most unit owners gladly grabbing a buy-out.

The prospect of having to negotiate with the 40 or so owners of neighbouring houses to remove a slice of their backyards will have Transport NSW’s pen-pushers anxiously chewing their pocket protectors.

But this is a unit block. Surely Transport NSW can just buy the whole building in one fell swoop? Actually no, they can’t.

Strata title extinguishment – agreement to sell your building for whatever reason – requires 100 per cent of the owners to say yes.

So Transport NSW will have to deal with owners individually, just as if they were knocking down a street of 63 houses.

And according to the Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation Act), individual owners can negotiate an agreed price or wait for a compulsory purchase at market value. Because it’s one out, all out, that’s 63 negotiations.

Proposed changes to strata law to allow owners to sell their building as a whole could get a hurry up when Transport NSW realises it’s easier to negotiate with 90 per cent or even 75 per cent owners rather than the current 100 per cent.

You’ll find a document produced to explain the compulsory purchase process for the North West Rail Link – different rail line but same laws – here. If you’re interested, you’ll find the Just Terms Compensation legislation here. And you’ll find the original Herald article on Olivia Gardens here and the Flat Chat Forum discussion on this issue here.