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I am the owner of a strata townhouse/villa I bought in 2016. My enquiry relates to who is responsible for what. The house sits on its own lot of about a quarter acre and is unattached to any other house or building. The nearest house in the strata complex is about 20 metres away from my house although several have adjoining lot boundaries. There are 7 houses/lots in the strata complex. If repairs or maintenance are needed to matters such as the roof, gutters, windows, foundations, external painting, structural problems etc who is responsible.? The Strata Manager has advised me that when the strata complex was built in around 2004, the then owners all agreed verbally that they would be responsible for all matters relating to each of their own houses. There is nothing in writing to state this, and no by-law. When I raised this matter with the Strata Manager I was told about this verbal agreement and therefore any repairs or maintenance were my responsibility. I would ask you to advise me on whether this is correct or not. Please note also that Building Insurance on all the Lots is paid for by the owners’ corporation, but this does not cover many situations requiring attention due to wear and tear.
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It is important to confirm which state you are in. Who is responsible for what varies with different state legislation. In the ACT, what you describes would probably be ‘class B’ (but confirm that) and you would be responsible for repair and maintenance of your townhouse unit. However, it is possible for the OC to resolve to make the OC responsible for specified maintenance that would usually be yours to deal with. Possibly similar elsewhere. I would get that verbal agreement formalised by a proper resolution, if that is consistent with your state’s legislation.
gwyn – Your scheme layout sounds different from most.
Some Strata Plans indicate that buildings do not form common property. What does your Strata Plan say?
It is possible to prepare a strata plan where it is intended that the buildings form part of their respective lot and not become common property.
In these instances the following conventions apply:The floor plan is prepared differently and it must show the following: (1) The walls will be shown by thick broken lines unless they form a lot boundary. (2) There will be only one floor plan regardless of the number of levels in the building. The floor plan will represent the perimeter walls of the building at ground level. (3) The plan must have a statement indicating that the building forms part of the lot and is not common property for example. ‘The structure of the building standing on each lot, including walls, floors, ceilings and roofs, form part of the lot and is not common property.’
See page 21 of this document for a more detailed explanation and examples:
https://rgdirections.lpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/143078/Strata_Plans_Fast_Facts.pdf
However, if your Strata Plan does not indicate that the buildings do not form common property then your Owner’s Corporation will need to formalise the responsibility for maintenance and repair. A verbal agreement from 2004 is definitely not good enough.
Even with an SSMA 2015 [s106(3)] special resolution an OC cannot opt out of the responsibility for common property structural repairs or painting (i.e. appearance of common property) etc.
106 Duty of owners corporation to maintain and repair property
(1) An owners corporation for a strata scheme must properly maintain and keep in a state of good and serviceable repair the common property and any personal property vested in the owners corporation.
(2) An owners corporation must renew or replace any fixtures or fittings comprised in the common property and any personal property vested in the owners corporation.
(3) This section does not apply to a particular item of property if the owners corporation determines by special resolution that:
(a) it is inappropriate to maintain, renew, replace or repair the property, and
(b) its decision will not affect the safety of any building, structure or common property in the strata scheme or detract from the appearance of any property in the strata scheme.
@gwyn said:
The stratum statement says: “The stratum of each garden area extends from 3m below to a height of 5m above the upper surface of the floor level of the respective adjoining residence, except where covered”. Not sure what all that means …That means that your lot extends to 3 m below ground level to 5 m above it – unless it has a roof over it … like your house.
I’m not sure what it is that you want, here. Do you not want to pay for the upkeep of your house and would rather the owners corp did that?
If so, be careful what you wish for … you could end up getting a bill for your share of all the other work done around the scheme when the other owners agree that that Owners Corp should repay them for theirr work.
If you merely want to formalise a verbal agreement, get a by-law drafted to that effect – but make sure it contains a clause that requires everyone to maintain the external appearance of their lot to the committee’s satisfaction.
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If I understood correctly, I think gwyn is saying that the entire building of each townhouse is set a few meters within the lot boundaries. While I am less familiar with NSW, I think that would mean that the townhouse is entirely the lot owner’s to maintain. I don’t think that this depends on any verbal agreement or require any more documentation than the strata plan. If it is to the inside of the lot boundary, doesn’t that make it the lot owner’s responsibility to maintain, in NSW as elsewhere?
It’s important to differentiate between strata law and by-laws (even the standard or model ones).
You can’t create a by-law that superseded Strata or any other law. For instance, you can’t create a by-law that says you don’t want to have strata insurance as that is required by law.
However, you can pass a by-law that establishes new by-laws or changes exisiting ones. A very good example of that is the recommendation that owners corporations accept (or modify) the “Who’s Responsible” guidelines for your scheme.
Section 106-108 lay out the Owners Corporation’s responsibility to maintain and repair common property and the parameters withing which that may be changed.
But in your circumstances, you would be advised to get it established by by-law who is responsible for what before someone buys the least-well maintained house and demands that everyone else pays to bring it up to scratch.
Regarding why you have raised this, I think we are all interested in what your motivation is – as in, what you hope to achieve – rather than what piqued your interest.
If you want to be alerted when anyone replies to your posts or responds to this topic, please register and login, then you will be able to subscribe to the topic. The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers. NB: Longer threads may spill over to additional pages - look for the numbers on the bottom right, under the last post.