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[Gilgal1]

Hi – I'd like to find out what you think is the best approach for getting rid of unused common property by selling or leasing it to interested unit owners.

Our suburban unit complex comprises 2 buildings and 24 units – about two-thirds owner-occupied. We recently sacked our old strata manager, appointed a new one who's willing to actually do some work, and are embarking on a process of attending to maintenance that's been ignored for years. I'm on the Executive Committee.

Various EC members and residents have been involved in trying to improve the state of our grounds and other common property. We've had civil and drainage engineers prepare reports on some of the more obvious problems in our complex. There are far too many things for us to afford to fix within only a couple of years.

Apart from the obvious option of imposing a special levy at our next general meeting, we need to come up with a way of raising more money. Fortunately, I think we have one.

Our complex has 3 balconies to nowhere – common spaces which the developer (back in 1981) may have intended as balconies adjoining some units. Instead, they are just unfinished spaces that leak into the garages below, tend towards concrete cancer and attract local teenagers looking for somewhere to hang out where people can't see them.

These areas are in a shocking state and are on our list of essential repairs. But what to do once we've fixed them?

We've been talking about offering the spaces for sale to owners of units adjoining them. However our new strata manager seems to think long term leases are a better option. What do you think?

I understand that we'll probably have to get planning permission from our local council – especially if unit owners want to knock doorways through walls so they can access their new spaces. What I'm not so sure about is (1) how we value such spaces and (2) whether selling or leasing is the better option.

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