@stax said:
I’m still a little confused about the relevance of Sect 65A to upgrades of individual lots. Such work may affect and even alter common property but I would have thought that was significantly different from “improving or enhancing” it – or does the legal definition of that phrase include any change whatsoever?
In this context the major significance of 65A is to correctly apportion the responsibility for upkeep of the altered common property to the person who is benefitting from the alterations and that can only be done by a special resolution.
The Act is worded so that responsibility defaults to the Owners Corp. However, the intention is the opposite – it’s a wake-up call to owners that if they don’t apportion responsibility properly, they will end up carrying the financial can in the future, say, when the unit has been sold to someone else.
The explanation of how this works is laid out in great detail HERE by our Strataguru Whale.
This website is littered with complaints and questions about changes made to common property on a nod and a wink that come back to haunt owners corps financially when the person who made the changes without approval sells to another owner who wants the additional installations fixed.
A prime example would be adding an awning to the front of your apartment. Someone has to be responsible for the heavy duty fixings that would need to be drilled into the common property external wall and it shouldn’t be the other owners.
65A Owners corporation may make or authorise changes to common property
(1) For the purpose of improving or enhancing the common property … an owner of a lot may take any of the following action, but only if a special resolution has first been passed at a general meeting of the owners corporation that specifically authorises the taking of the particular action proposed:
(a) add to the common property,
(b) alter the common property,
(c) erect a new structure on the common property.
(2) A special resolution that authorises action to be taken under subsection (1) in relation to the common property by an owner of a lot may specify whether the ongoing maintenance of the common property once the action has been taken is the responsibility of the owners corporation or the owner.
(3) If a special resolution under this section does not specify who has the ongoing maintenance of the common property concerned, the owners corporation has the responsibility for the ongoing maintenance.