› Forums › By-laws and outlaws › The committee as strata-cop › Can OC charge owners for failure to allow access for safety checks? › Current Page
Regarding failure to allow access, Section 122 of the Act allows the Owners Corp to apply to the Tribunal for fines to be imposed. Those fines would normally be paid to the OC, covering the call-out fee, but the threat of them might motivate the owner to allow access.
122 Power of owners corporation to enter property in order to carry out work
(1) An owners corporation for a strata scheme may, by its agents, employees or contractors, enter on any part of the parcel of the scheme for the purpose of carrying out the following work:
(a) work required or authorised to be carried out by the owners corporation in accordance with this Act (including work relating to window safety devices and rectification work carried out under Part 11),
(b) work required to be carried out by the owners corporation by a notice given to it by a public authority,
(c) work required or authorised to be carried out by the owners corporation by an order under this Act.(5) A person must not obstruct or hinder an owners corporation in the exercise of its functions under this section.
Maximum penalty: 5 penalty units ($550)
And then there’s this:
123 Access for fire safety inspections
(1) A person authorised to carry out an inspection under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 of a building or premises that is part of a strata scheme for purposes relating to fire safety may give a written notice to the owners corporation requiring the owners corporation to ensure that access is provided, within a period or at a time specified in the notice, to the common property of the strata scheme and, if so specified, some or all of the lots in the strata scheme.
(2) An owners corporation must comply with a requirement of a notice given to the owners corporation under this section. Maximum penalty: 20 penalty units. ($2,200)
(3) It is a defence to a prosecution for an offence against this section consisting of a failure to ensure that access is provided to a lot in a strata scheme if the owners corporation establishes that the owner or occupier of the lot refused to allow the access or could not be contacted by the owners corporation.
