What issue do you think takes up most of your executive committee members’ time? Disputes over levies? Smoking and smells? The headline-grabbing issue of laundry on balconies?
A survey by the University of New South Wales City Futures Research Centre into executive committees in NSW shows that these so-called “hot” topics don’t even make it into the top ten. The five main sources of disputes in strata are use (and presumably misuse) of common property – which could be anything and everything from getting a bit frisky in the swimming pool to parking your bike on your balcony – followed by parking, noise, breaches of by-laws and renovations.
Repair and maintenance of common property was the seventh most common course of complaints, just behind how the building and its residents disposed of rubbish. Issues that also made it to the top 10 were the actions of strata managers, specific costs to the owners and, of course, the vexed question of pets.
Use of common property covers a multitude of sins and, in reality, parking is the single biggest issue, partly because the State Government and local councils just aren’t prepared to take the logical steps required to either put parking wardens into strata schemes or allow owners corporations to clamp or tow rogue parkers.
Allowing ‘grey ghosts’ into apartment blocks may be a bit extreme but makes common sense for a multi-block development, near a railway station, where the roads are deemed ‘private’ so outsiders can park where they want, while residents face fines for doing exactly the same thing. Now, this is not a statistically definitive survey – only just over 400 EC members took part – but it’s a valid check on the strata pulse.
The disputes breakdown was just one small part of the 40-page report on the survey, to which Flat Chat readers were major contributors. City Futures are currently surveying strata managers and next year it will be ordinary owners’ chance to have their say. In the meantime you can have yours – or just ask a question – in the Flat Chat Forum.