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Topic
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On the DA approved plans for our villa and townhouse complex there are common property open spaces in addition to owner’s courtyards. These are clearly marked, together with the area sizes in square metres. On the Certificate of Title for the common property, the situation is unclear as there are “prolongations” of walls in the places where the DA plans show boundaries between common property and lot property. An owner has enclosed all the spaces adjacent to their villa, including their DA approved courtyard and possibly common property?
As common property is defined by the notion of that property which is not included in a lot, will it be necessary to obtain the Certificate of Title for the lot to resolve who owns which spaces? There are no by-laws granting exclusive use of common property.
Apart from the questions of whether this is a land grab or not and who should be responsible for maintenance, we have the practical issue that the sewer and stormwater connections for the complex are behind this owner’s fence though located on common property in the DA plans.
Begin with a title search? Or do these prolongations of walls mean nothing?
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The certificate of title of the strata , not the lot contains all the information you need.
The various lines drawn can be confusing.
The strata plan will have a table of all the area of the lots. The areas include the area of the residence, the garage and any courtyards that form part of the lot.
The prolongation you mention generally define the boundary between lots or between a lot and common property. These lines usually are where there is no building to define the boundary.More modern strata plans will have a vigiale (a little curly sign) between the internal lot property and external lot property. It indicates that the lot property continues into the other area.
.If the owner has encroached on common property by enclosing it, issue them with a notice to comply for breaching the common property by law. Alternatively have an exclusive use bylaw drawn up. Since this increases the value of the owners lot, make sure there is some compensation to the OC is paid (yearly rent).
If the enclosed area is common property, then the OC can enter this space at any time in order to do repairs. The lot owner is also in for a surprise, since this is common property, the OC is not responsible for restoring any damage to items the owner put in when effecting repairs.
You can get a strata plan from one of the LPI agents online, but you should have a copy attached to your contract of sale. The strata plan almost never changes so the one you have is good.
The strata certificate of title is not just common property. Its a plan of all the property on that block of land.
The certificate of title of the lot does not carry any information related to the strata plan (ie there is no drawing on it) The certificate of title of a lot makes a reference to the strata title documents.
Remember that the Owners Corporation owns all of the land and buildings and a lot owns airspace and some walls.
The lines compose (usually) of thick lines denoting the building outline, Thin lines which are usually denoting boundaries outside of a building. They are always drawn perpendicular to the building. Dotted lines, denoting some physical feature (ie a bend in a fence line) that is not a boundary of a lot.
If there is confusion about the boundaries of a lot, I would seek the services of a surveyor who has good knowledge of the requirements of strata subdivision. They will at least be able to interpret the plan and provide some guidance.
It is a requirement of Land Registry Services that the strata plan defines the area of each lot or part lot. Since it a requirement it has to be on the plan. (That’s not a new requirement as I have seen it on 1970s plans) The strata plans are available from Land Registry Services through one of its agents. Maybe you do not have the complete number of pages (a strata plan extends over a number of pages even for small developments)
Just Asking
The lot certificate of title says:
Lot x in strata plan yyyyy
As I said earlier, everything you need to know about the strata scheme is contained in the strata title certificate.
If they are proving difficult to interpret, get professional advice.
Ive seen some poorly drawn plans. One I have seen makes a specific note that the strata of a lot is the area enclosed by the building, yet the lot owners believe they own their courtyards.
Land Registry Services and its predecessors do not check the correctness of the plans. So it’s often a case of buyer beware.