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Apparently around 10 children each year are hospitalised because of falling from windows in NSW. The introduction of child safety window locks has significantly reduced the number of deaths and injuries. The continuing accident rate is why the law has been updated to require the Owners Corporation to check the locks are installed and working. Anecdotally, a lot of the window opening limiters have been removed or broken since they were installed when the law changed, and the change to the law establishes that the OC is responsible for ensuing the window opening limiters function properly, when previously, they could avoid responsibility because some window locks were installed by the lot owner (who was then responsible for their maintenance), but now (or soon), the OC will have that responsibility. Window locks are checked when a Unit is rented, already.
The regulations detailing how the inspection will occur have not been published, so we don’t know how often the inspections will need to occur. But at a guess, the window locks can be added to the annual inspection of smoke alarms inside Units, and can be done by the same people, once they are trained.However, under strata law, the Owners Corporation has some control over the external appearance of the building. The OC, in theory, can prohibit items like solar panels (or political signage, or flags) being attached to the outside of the balcony, because they alter the look of the building. This is governed by model by-law 17, which says anything “not in keeping with the rest of the building” can be visible from outside the lot without consent.
But solar panels are sustainability infrastructure, and new amendments to the strata laws prohibit the use of appearance-based by-laws to prevent sustainability infrastructure being installed. This does not apply to heritage building, though. However, this prohibition is not absolute, so you should take care that any solar panels do not detract from the building’s appearance, so some rules about how and where the panels can be installed.
Balconies are usually the property of the lot owner (on the strata plan there is a little “s” symbol that links the balcony with the rest of the lot). But the lot is basically the volume inside the lot boundaries. So the floor slab, the roof slab and the boundary walls are common property. The boundary wall between the balcony and the rest of the lot is also common property (except with older strata plans), because it is shown as a thick line on the strata plan. The boundary walls of the balcony are common property, which includes the balustrade.
Also, strata law protects the “look” of the building from outside, so an awning may not be allowed because of that principle. An owner will affix an awning to the common property exterior walls, so they will need to owners corporations approval to install the awning, even if the OC allows awnings to be added to the building, because they do not detract from the building’s appearance.
You are correct about the recently added responsibilities and workload for committee members. The Dept of Fair Trading will shortly (“within weeks” according to the NSW Strata Commissioner, Angus Abadee, at a conference on 14 August) be requiring strata committee members to take a 1 hour training course, in order to be on a strata committee.
But as long as some owners are volunteering to be on the committee and the building is well run, and the other owners are content with how it is being managed – and there is a professional strata manager involved, then the system is working.
The obvious response for buildings when this isn’t the case is “Don’t the owners want to sell some day?” If you are an owner in a building which is not operating properly, then you will have big problems selling the Unit! The strata report on a strata building that is not fully compliant with the law will ensure that the Unit is unsellable, or only sellable at a large discount. Even if you sell to a naive purchaser, they will be able to take legal action against the previous owner, if they later find the strata laws were not followed. Who would purchase in a building that has not been holding Annual General Meetings, and approving repairs and maintenance in properly convened strata committee meetings? No-one sensible.
No, optional levies are not done. Sufficient money is either raised as a special levy in a general meeting or the motion to do so is defeated. Strata law does not cover the possibility of the money only being collected in some situations. The OC cannot not collect a levy. However, you can raise it at one meeting, and cancel it at another. The funds from a special levy cannot be collected earlier than 30 days after the levy notice goes out (unless for emergency repairs), and the general meeting has a 7 day period between when the meeting notice goes out and a meeting that can approve a special levy. If your project creates expensive variations, it is hard to see that you can organise payment in that 3-month window, with all the other delays.
Some thoughts: Variations ALWAYS occur, especially in repairs and rectification. Your contract with the builder would normally have clauses dealing with variations. No sensible builder will start a project with an Owners Corporation without being sure they can be paid. After all, they know how strata works, and they know there is no guarantee that the OC will approve special levies, nor that the owners will actually pay them.
This situation is why strata finance exists. Take out a strata loan to cover the contingencies, which will only need to be drawn on if they occur. If the project is on budget then there’s no need to draw on the loan. The cost to arrange a loan is low.
Or raise a special levy that includes 10% contingency amount for the project, and tell the owners what it is for. If the project is on budget, then the following year’s capital works levy amount can be reduced by the extra money collected. If the owners are balking at paying a contingency compent, when the builder and project manager will explain that variations are almost certain to occur, then the project is in trouble. Are you sure that the owners will pay the levies anyway? The new changes to strata law requiring that payment plans be offered, is an impediment in collecting levies. The only reason for refusing a payment plan request is that the OC won’t then have enough money for essential work. So in theory, that does allow you to refuse a payment plan, but if your OC is liquid, that will only kick in once your account runs dry, and the first to apply may get it while the slow coaches get refused – triggering a mass application scenario.
If the owners are not prepared to raise enough money now, then you should not start the project. Keep in mind that the OC cannot legally sign a contract without all the money required being “in the bank” on that date – either because of valid special levies being approved (with the collection dates being sensible), or because of a signed strata loan facility. Signing a contract without sufficient money to cover variations could be a legal problem, which would bite the OC big time, if it is sued by the builder for non-payment for their work, or you miss the Council deadline, because the builder won’t start, or has downed tools, because the OC is unable to come up with the money.
Yes, there are! Even the company you are talking to, may be willing to use another contract, or to amend the one they have presented. Some strata management companies have their own contract, or use a “standard” contract that is provided by strata law firms or other institutions.
But if your issue is the cost varying according to the period of the contract, which has a maximum of 3 years (36 months), then ask for that clause in the contract to be struck out. In fact, I’ve seen a contract where the cost decreases depending on the term chosen – eg (say) $4,000 pa if the term is 3 years, $5,000 pa if the term is 2 years, and $6,000 pa if the term is for one year.
If the offered contract is still an issue, agree to sign it, with the term on 1 year. You can then renegotiate it each year, and hopefully, you can get the same price offered each time…
Note too, that there are rumours that the NSW govt, and the Dept of Fair Trading, may present a standard strata management contract that all strata managers will have to use (similar to the standard building contract). The provisions for this is now in the strata law. If you are finding contract terms and negotiations a problem, then you can lobby the Dept of Fair Trading, and especially its Minister to institute this, and provide a standard contract with set terms (although the strata manager will still be setting their own charging rates).
Actually that is the default. The motion to raise the special levy should specify the purpose, and the amount raised can only be used for that purpose. So ensure that the wording of the motion is accurate.
However, be cautious of being too specific, as the remedial works may spread to unexpected tasks, when the work commences. For example, raising a special levy “to replace and upgrade the balconies, including the balustrades, by installing a water-proofing membrane and re-tiling the balcony floor”, seems good. But when the owners ask to have the walls re-painted, that does not fall within the wording. And what if one of the owners asks to install new lighting on the new balcony? Also not covered. It also depends on the owners. If all are happy with the project then there are unlikely to be any one objecting if the funds are spread to related features (but not to un-related tasks!). But if some owners are skeptical about the project, then you should ensure the wording covers exactly what you may be spending the money for.
If the project does not cost the full amount raised in the special levy, then the money left over can be re-assigned to another task, by making, passing and documenting this in a motion at a general meeting.
There should be an item in the Annual General Meeting Agenda to authorise renewing the building’s insurance. As well, there are 2 optional insurance policies that should be decided at the AGM – whether to take out “Office Bearers Liability” and “Fidelity Guarantee” policies (generally these should be done). Strata law now requires the Owners Corporation obtain at least 3 quotes for insurance, or else, to provide a reason why this was not done – and that disclosure is usually in the Agenda – possibly as a note.
Strata law also now requires the strata manager to declare any insurance commissions received (as well as other real or potential compensation), and this should be disclosed in the Agenda, or a statement made that no (insurance or other) commissions were received – do not accept silence on this issue – there should be a clear statement one way or the other.
To ensure that the building is properly insured, as the strata manager, or strata committee secretary, for a copy of the building’s current CoC “Certificate of Currency”. This sets out the insurance policy details. You should also be able to get a copy of the invoice for the insurance renewal – which will specify the cost, as well as the commission (if any) paid to the strata manager (and insurance broker). This may be refused, but will be available to the treasurer of the strata committee, so an obliging treasurer can pass this on to you. Otherwise, you can carry out a “strata search” to inspect the invoice, but there is a small cost for this (and this will only be demanded if the strata manager is being a bit difficult, or is instructed to be difficult by the strata committee).
If this information is missing from the AGM’s Agenda, then this is a problem. The strata manager would be in trouble with Fair Trading, since many of these items are mandatory to include in the AGM Agenda. But this is unlikely – renewing the building’s insurance policy is a mundane activity that the strata manager usually handles almost automatically. But the recent amendments to strata law has increase these requirements, and some manager may be slow at adapting. But don’t assume malfeasance – maybe just puzzlement at your intense interest.
Firstly, you need to check the building’s by-laws. It may have a specific by-law about flooring or there may be a renovation by-law for your own Unit that dealt with flooring and noise transmission. Most older buildings would have the “default” recommended by-laws, which includes a by-law that says an owner or occupier must not use their lot or common property in a way that causes a nuisance or hazard.
The Owners Corporation of your building must maintain and repair common property. If the age of the building has led to the floor joists and flooring degrading, so they now allow noise to create a nuisance to other lots, then it’s the responsibility of the Owners Corporation to fix that problem. Namely all 4 owners will share the cost (proportioned by Unit Entitlement).
In practice, noisy floors are a common problem, and are complicated to fix. If the issue can’t be easily resolved by negotiation between you and your neighbour, then escalate the problem to the Owners Corporation, and add it to the agenda of the next general meeting, or strata committee meeting. Discuss how to do this with your strata manager, if you have one. Or call a meeting of all owners to discuss the issue.
What generally then happens, is for the OC to engage a suitable expert, such as a sound engineer, to carry out testing, and provide a report about the noise. They will determine if the noise transmission is a problem (ie, noise is above generally accepted levels) and to determine the likely cause of this. Alternatively, if the flooring is old and suspect, then get a structural engineer to report on that. Then the OC will need to fund, and arrange the necessary repairs.
Dueling experts! But the devil is in the detail. Reading between the lines, which may be me misunderstanding thing, I am guessing that what may have happened is this: You had water ingress in 2023, and an expert produced a report indicating that the cause was a number of problems. The Owners Corporation address some (or most? or few?) of them, fixing the leaking downpipes and gutters. Now in 2026 you have (ongoing, new, different, the same) water ingress problems. The Owners Corporation has indicated that it believes there are no current problems, and if you think so, they you need to present an engineer’s report, and pay for that, proving this…
I think the Owners Corporation has a point that a fresh review of the problem is appropriate, as the original issue was fixed at least to some extent, and 3 years have elapsed. If you had ongoing issues during the last 3 years, you missed an opportunity to make the OC aware of this (I’m guessing). Your current problems may be a recurrence of the original issues (ie, the gutters are blocked again?).
But if you have a water ingress problem, and you have reasonable evidence about it, it is the Owners Corporation’s responsibility to investigate and fix it. They should arrange an engineer or expert to investigate and report. It’s not like owners are rationed to share out problems and fixes.
You might have an attachment to the original engineers report and their recommendations. That should not matter, and in fact, having the Owners Corporation getting a new report from a new expert is better, and that person will have the original report to reference. My advice is not to re-litigate the past problem, but to focus on the current one, and insist it be dealt with. Don’t try to tell the OC how to go about this, and to insist on a specific expert being involved, but focus on the current problem (dampness, mould, buckets of water, photos of trickles etc) and just keep asking the OC to fix it.
If they take the view, that – “hey stop being greedy, we already fixed a problem in your Unit a couple of years ago, wait your turn” then go to NCAT – or offer to do so, and prepare to get legal advice and support.
Upgrading the building’s common property requires a special resolution (under section 108 of the Strata Schemes Management Act) at a general meeting. So work out when the next general meeting is scheduled – which is likely to the the next Annual General Meeting (AGM) that normally is scheduled around 2 months from the end of your building’s Financial Year – or around a year after the previous one.
You need to propose a motion to go on the Agenda for the general meeting. Check out the wording of the motions in previous AGM Agendas for a template. Artificial Intelligence will probably provide an appropriately worded one, if you feed it a previous Agenda, and explain / prompt the purpose. Then send the proposed agenda motion to the strata committee secretary, and your strata manager, and request it be added to the next general meeting agenda.
Now, a special resolution requires that the majority of the owners at the general meeting support the motion, while “not more than 25%” oppose it. So you basically need 75% of the owners attending the general meeting to support it, to be successful. To improve your chances, you should get quotes and proposals – and provide this to support your motion. Ideally you should get at least 3 quotes , and 2 are mandatory if the project costs $20k or more. If you have a good idea about what you want, your motion can cover this – ie, the motion can have parts, – part one that the OC install bike racks at a specific location of a certain type (you fill in the details), and part two, that the OC accept a quotation from X to install a certain model of bike rack at a cost of $Y. Or you can put different options in the motion, and allow the owners to select whichever they want (perhaps at different price points?).
The finally, prepare for the meeting. Talk to the other owners, and encourage the ones agreeing with you to come to the meeting, or provide a voting proxy. Do your numbers, to ensure that 75% will agree to support the motion. Or sweeten the deal – as Jimmy-T suggests, you might more easily get 75% support if you pay for the upgrade yourself… And prepare to argue your case before and at the meeting.
You’ve not provided enough information. What is the cause of these emails being sent, and what kind of threat is involved? And who is the resident – owner, tenant on strata roll, or someone else?
Assuming this involves a strata problem, the initial response would be to tell the resident to correspond with the strata manager (who would have been delegated the secretary’s tasks, including dealing with correspondence from owners and tenants on the strata roll). At some point this issue should be considered at a strata committee meeting. Everyone should remember that the strata committee secretary has a limited decision making ability – all decisions apart from a couple of mundane ones like calling meetings, are made by the committee as a whole, with an agenda motion, and the minuted decision available to all owners, with the reasoning for the decision provided. The decision should be reasonable and fair, or else NCAT can be called in to review and reconsider the situation.
A further option, that may de-escalate the situation is to refer the resident to NCAT and to make a formal complaint there, and encourage an NCAT mediation session. The NCAT mediations (whatever their other problems) act as a neutral party, and will determine the facts and will explain the law to all the parties involved.
Yes, Jimmy-T has the right information. But it’s not possible to know whether your rental agent or the strata manager, or the strata committee, or a combination, is the cause of the lack of a suitable response…
As a strategy to ensure that the problem is dealt with quickly, you should be raising the problem with the building’s strata manager, directly, and CC them in with your correspondence. (You can normally find out who is the strata manager using the NSW Strata Hub enquiry database for your building.)
Another important strategy is to use the magic words in your correspondence about the broken intercom and security system, which is that it is a “health and SAFETY” issue. A faulty intercom and lock on the building is a “serious safety and security” problem, and you should stress this in all correspondence. Nothing worries a rental agent or strata manager more than them delaying dealing with a security and safety issue – and this is one area where a strata manager can overrule a recalcitrant strata committee and arrange urgent repairs. So continually remind the agent and strata manager that the faulty security and intercom system is a serious safety and security problem, because if an ambulance or police were called to your Unit there would be no way for them to get access to you.
Also, to add some encouragement to the rental agent to act, request that the agent provide you with a rent reduction while the fault exists. The law firm Muellers states that in NSW, landlords must legally provide a property that is reasonably secure. If broken common area doors increase security risks or cause daily inconvenience, your landlord is breaching this duty. They can claim the lost rent back from the Owners Corporation. So both parties will have a reason to fix the problem, as both are at fault and will be out of pocket.
The agent has to take the request for a rent reduction to the owner, who will also have reason to pressure the OC to fix the problem, and also to prod the agent into action as well. But gather evidence of the problem, such as dates and time, and photos, and keep a record of visitors who could not contact you, to back up the request…
Remember that a “safety” issue is a red flag to Owners Corporations, agents and strata managers, and if your problem (reasonably) involves a safety problem, this escalates the speed of the response significantly.
Another issue, that might be relevant, is the insurance risk if an accident occurs. Most strata buildings include insurance cover for owners, and committee members doing voluntary work on the building and grounds. But the voluntary work must be specifically authorised by the Owners Corporation, in the minutes of a strata committee or general meeting. If not so authorised, then the building’s insurance is unlikely to cover you if you get injured doing the landscaping work (which is a high risk area). Secondly, this only work for “voluntary work” which must be unpaid. If you were charging the Owners Corporation for the work, then it’s not voluntary.
So you should tender for the work, just as the new gardener did. This will require you to have the appropriate insurance, and business details in order. Do you have the appropriate insurance and other requirements? If not, then the Owners Corporation did the right thing by engaging another gardener, who the strata manager would have vetted. As an alternative, why not join the strata committee at the next AGM (or ask to assist them), and then become the committee member supervising the work of the gardener? But not to actually touch the garden, unless as a volunteer for no payment, and with the task then minuted in the strata records.
What you have described is not legal, in that, it is mandatory to have a strata committee, and for that committee to select a chairperson, a secretary and a treasurer. However, once it does this, the committee can delegate (nearly) all of its functions to the strata manager, assuming also that the strata manager’s contract with the Owners Corporation allows this.
Nevertheless the strata committee is legally liable for anything that the Owners Corporation does, and they can be sued (and held financially accountable) for any misbehavior that the Owners Corporation gets up to, or allows its strata manager to get away with.
If, as you say, the Owners Corporation at its AGM voted down the election of a strata committee, and is relying on its strata manager to do the necessary work to run the Owners Corporation, then this is at odds with strata law. So, you should check out the actual situation. Read the agenda and minutes of the building’s AGM, to determine what the situation actually is. Ask the strata manager to advise you of the makeup of the strata committee and its office holders.
And if there is no strata committee, you have 2 fairly easy choices – you should lodge a complaint with the Dept of Fair Trading, firstly that the Owners Corporation is not following strata law, and secondly with the licencing section of the Dept that the Strata Manager is not following strata law, and is representing a building without a legally sanctioned strata committee. The Strata Manager should have cancelled their management contract with the building, if the owners refused to follow the law.
However, there are many strata buildings where the owners do not wish to follow the law, and so the strata manager may step in and run things, and the Dept just assumes that this is the best of a bad set of options. This situation is likely to increase, once compulsory training of strata committees comes into force, which will discourage owners even more than now from being involved in building management. Strata law does not handle buildings where the owners refuse to manage the owners corporation, and owners are less likely than ever to want to get involved with the management of their buildings, which is a demanding and voluntary role.
If this situation really concerns you, discuss this with a strata lawyer. You would probably have a case to appoint a compulsory strata manager, which ironically, is the same situation you are currently in, although you and the other owners would have a say in who that manager would be.