This is a little complicated, but the first issue to consider is what type of renovation you are planning? NSW strata law splits renovations into 3 kinds: “cosmetic”, “minor” and “major”. Cosmetic renovations don’t require any approval. Minor renovations require some approval, which can be from the Owners Corporation at a general meeting, the strata committee or the strata manager – the choice depends on your building’s by-laws, such as if the OC has previously delegated the authority to approve minor renovations to the strata committee, or to the strata manager. Major renovations, which generally involve renovations that affect the water proofing in a unit, or structural walls, or the outside appearance of the lot, have to be approved at a general meeting of the OC.
NSW strata law has a list of what kind of thing falls into each category. More details here => https://www.nsw.gov.au/housing-and-construction/living/renovations
Nonetheless, keep in mind that generally the OC mostly has a say over the common property. For example in a typical apartment, the dividing walls to other units, the floor, ceiling and exterior walls, and structural elements like cables, pipes, support beams and pillars are common property. But a non-structural internal wall, say between the kitchen and lounge, is the owners property, and as such, the owner can remove it, (assuming there are no structural elements embedded in it.) There’s some grey area here, but if you are changing the water proofing, by updating a bathroom or laundry, or removing a walls (until you prove the wall is not structural), then the renovation is clearly a major renovation. The “Common Property Memorandum” is a good guide for what is common property, and what is owner’s property, (which your building might have adopted in its by-laws), see =>
<u>https://www.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/2022-03/common-property-memorandum.pdf</u>
The process is generally that you apply to the strata manager / strata committee secretary to advise them you are planning to carry out a minor or major renovation, and set out generally what you plan to do. You can suggest that your renovation is only minor, and ask this be confirmed. Then ask for the approval, again, paying attention to common property that is affected by the work. You should expect to provide a report that a wall removal (say) is not structural, by a suitable expert. Your strata manager can probably provide you with some prior examples as a template to follow. You should also expect that a renovation by-law will be required, so that the common property affected by the renovation then changes from the OC’s responsibility to repair and maintain, to the owner’s.
The owner is expected to pay for these tasks. You might be asked to pay for calling a general meeting, unless there is already a general meeting (eg the AGM) scheduled anyway. There will usually also be a cost to the owner for updating the by-laws to add a renovation by-law.
But it is true that strata committees are not able to make decisions about construction. They should stick to ensuring the common property of the building is not adversely affected by the renovation, but to do so, they can reasonably ask for reports from experts to ensure this. They will often ask questions to see if the work will affect the common property or not. If you use a builder for the renovation who has done renovations in strata buildings, then the builder will usually handle all the reports and will answer the OC’s questions about the work. Generally, the owner will submit a summary of the work, the plans for the work prepared by the builder, and a structural engineer’s or other expert’s report about common property issues, like whether a wall to be removed is structural, whether new wooden flooring is sufficiently quiet, etc.
Bathroom or laundry renovations that affect the water proofing are sometimes controversial. The building code now requires broad water proofing (in multi-storey buildings anyway), and certification of the work. Your builder might have an unusual view of whether their work is within the building code, and that might differ from the OC’s view. Your builder should provide the OC with details of their qualifications, insurance, etc, beforehand, and the right certification certificates afterwards.
Finally, the OC will have a say in how the work is done – days and times for the work, access for skips, and noise levels. So you need to negotiate these conditions with the strata committee too, although your builder will probably have experience about handling this too. So, ideally use an experienced builder who has done work in similar strata building before…