Retrospective assistance for cladding remediation work
If you live in a residential class 2 apartment building in New South Wales and undertook cladding rectification work before Project Remediate became available, your owners corporation may be eligible for retrospective assistance.
Key information
- Owners corporations who began cladding remediation work on, or before, 30 June 2021 may be eligible for financial assistance as part of Project Remediate.
- Retrospective assistance is available to eligible owners corporations that have:
- passed a strata resolution to enter into a contract for cladding remediation work on or before 30 June 2021, and,
- agree to the terms set by the Office of Project Remediate, which includes the alignment of all cladding remediation work with the scope of work supported by Project Remediate.
- Retrospective assistance will apply to the same scope of work as Project Remediate, that is cladding remediation and directly associated façade repair work.
- You can apply for retrospective assistance by reading the information below, completing the form, and providing documentation. We will assess all registrations of interest by owners corporations to determine if the building is eligible and the status of any works undertaken.
What is retrospective assistance?
Retrospective assistance makes financial assistance (including an interest-free loan) available to those owners corporations that began cladding remediation works before Project Remediate was available. Eligible owners corporations can either:
- Receive a lump sum
Your owners corporation would receive a lump sum payment equivalent to the interest that would have been paid by government under Project Remediate. This amount will be based on the interest cost to government of a Project Remediate loan for the same amount spent by the owners corporation on eligible remediation work, or, - 'Refinance' with an interest-free loan.
If the owners corporation borrowed funds using a strata loan, the loan can be refinanced with an interest-free loan provided through Project Remediate. Any refinancing, early repayment or ‘break’ costs will be paid by the owners corporation. If a portion of the borrowed funds was used for other purposes, only the amount used for cladding remediation may be refinanced.
A combination of these assistance arrangements may also be applicable in some circumstances.
Eligibility
- Your building must be a residential apartment building (Class 2) in NSW. This includes multi-use buildings, for example part commercial/part residential, and,
- your building must be confirmed by the NSW Cladding Taskforce to have had a high-risk combustible cladding façade requiring remediation, and,
- your owners corporation must have passed a strata resolution to enter into a contract for cladding remediation work on or before 30 June 2021.
Strata support payment
An owners corporation that receives retrospective assistance is eligible for the $10,000-$15,000 strata support payment as if it were in Project Remediate. The payment amount is calculated based on the number of residential lots in the strata scheme. Read more about the strata support payment.
Who can apply?
You can only apply if you are an authorised representative of an owners corporation. This person is usually either:
- a strata managing agent
- a member of the strata committee authorised by a decision of the owners corporation
- a lawyer representing the owners corporation.
What you need to apply?
- Contact details of your building’s authorised representative
- your building’s details, including the address, strata plan number and your building’s designated class/type of building scheme
- a copy of your owners corporation’s strata resolution which evidences that a contract for the remediation work to replace affected cladding, was passed on or before 30 June 2021
- information about your building and documents to support your application. For example: Fire Safety Order, reports, building plans, council notices, insurance policies, existing owners corporation resolutions, existing signed contracts, evidence of the standards of remediation; proof that the original fire order has now been lifted through the completion of successful remediation.
Overview of this application process
This section provides an overview of what you can expect when you register for retrospective assistance:
Your authorised representative registers the owners corporation's interest and provides details of the building and the remediation work.
- We will review the submission application to assess eligibility
- We may contact the authorised representative to seek clarification or request further information to confirm eligibility.
We will inform the authorised representative if the building appears to be eligible based on the initial review. Not all applications will progress past this stage. You will be informed if you are not successful.
Once your building has been confirmed as passing the initial assessment, Project Remediate will request further information and documentation from you, to verify details of the remediation work. Documents that will be requested will include those that outline the scope, cost and completion status of the cladding remediation work which you have undertaken.
We will review contract documents, plans, reports, invoices, payment records and any documents which certify the completion of the works.
We will liaise with other parties such as the council or consent authority or contractors and consultants involved in the remediation work as required to verify the remediation work undertaken.
The owners corporations will be required to acknowledge by way of a strata resolution that:
- the cladding remediation work has been completed independently without oversight by the Office of Project Remediate
- no Project Remediate ‘Remediation Assurance Certificate’ will be issued
- the owners corporation will enter into a deed of release before receiving retrospective assistance.
We will inform the owners corporation of the amount that it is eligible to receive as a lump sum payment or to refinance under an interest-free loan (or combination of these).
The owners corporation will be required to execute a deed of release noting that upon receiving Retrospective Assistance:
- the owners corporation will not seek further financial assistance from Government related to cladding remediation
- any obligation owed to the owners corporation by the Government related to the Retrospective Assistance is extinguished.
After receiving the owners corporation's deed, the owners corporation will then select whether they wish to receive a lump sum payment or would like to elect to refinancing their loan through Project Remediate's loan provider. For refinancing, the loan provider will guide the owners corporation through the process of credit assessment and loan establishment.
Enquiries
Please email projectremediate@customerservice.nsw.gov.au with any questions relating to retrospective assistance.