[teamwalrus]

DaveB – thank you for letting me know its 5 years.

Whale –  According to hearsay in our strata complex ~15 years ago an owner of a townhouse modified the rear roof to extend it further over rear courtyard in their lot.  Apparently the modifications may not have been done perfectly and there has been some problem with water leakage in heavy rains.  The owner states the roof changes were approved at the time however the strata minutes only go back a few years and no bylaw exists regarding the roof changes.  The owner has not asked for repairs by the OC, however the owner is looking to sell the property.

I guess the thought is does the OC raise an issue that the owner did unapproved changes and must fix the roof; or get a backdated bylaw (if thats something that can be done) transferring maintenance to the owner.  Or do nothing and the responsibility will transfer to the OC when the property sells. With the very likelihood that a new owner will reasonably ask the OC to repair any roof problems.

A problem made very difficult by lots of time passing, no documentation, and a complex where every townhouse is slightly different to the others.  So its difficult to determine what is ‘original’ and what has been modified.

Based on my short time in this complex I think most likely the OC will do nothing and will have to cover the costs of repair when they arise.

[teamwalrus]

JimmyT commented that “Neither of these are precisely what is being discussed here.” and I agree.  I dont think either of these examples add clarity to the example asked about.  Where the OC made no action to a previous owner to comply with unauthorised changes that they made to the common property.

The first case about removing the stair case is where a notice to comply had been issued to the owner who had made the unapproved changes.  I personally would find it understandable that if the property is sold after that noticed was issued, then the new owner would also have to comply.  The new owner should have taken steps to review the minutes of the strata which would indicate the outstanding notice to comply.

The second case is where an owner who made the change is ordered to undo the change.

I did find this bit of information under section 140 Order relating to alterations and repairs to common property and other property

(4) An Adjudicator may specify in an order under this section whether the owners corporation or the owner of the lot concerned has the ongoing responsibility for the repair and maintenance of any additional property arising out of an alteration or repair to common property approved under the order.

(5) If an order makes provision for the owner of a lot to have the ongoing responsibility for the repair and maintenance of any such additional property, the order also has effect in relation to any subsequent owner of the lot.

[teamwalrus]

Thank you for the well worded and thoughtout replies.

Whale thank you for sharing your process re the register.  

For the record I’m a he in NSW

[teamwalrus]

I think its a difficult situation, hence my question to the forum experts

kiwipaul; if the scenario was a ducted aircon system located in the roof which required a new motor, is your opinion is that strata has to remove it rather than replace/fix it, similar to the aerial?

I would suggest in that approach the new owner would not be happy to have purchased a property with a major feature now to be removed.

In any case how would any buyer of a property, where they weren’t the first owner, have any idea if any feature of a property was ‘original’ or added by a previous owner without strata approval?  Wouldn’t such a concept require a detailed description of the property when it first entered strata?  Such a thing I’ve not seen (in my very limited strata exposure).

I’m sure there are different opinions on this but I was wondering if anyone has seen anything on it in the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 as I haven’t found anything yet.

[Author]

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