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Peter
Now I'm really puzzled. I'm not disputing what you say but it's clear that strata law in Canberra is very, very different form NSW.
Here in NSW, I'm pretty sure if the floor space of a unit in a block doubled, the owners would be expected to take a bigger burden of the overall cost of maintaining the strata complex and everyone else's levies would be reduced accordingly (provided someone went to the trouble of challenging the UEs).
I can't see what changing the value of the whole strata scheme has to do with changing one unit's share of the responibilites for the running of the strata scheme. Unit Entitlements are based on the owner's share of the overall plan.
It's more complicated that the mere size of the unit or of the actual value of the unit but these two factors are closely related and are the major considerations in establishing Unit Entitlements (in NSW, Victoria and WA, if not elsewhere).
In a very rough equation if 10 units each had a UE of 10 making up 100 and then one of the units doubled in size, you would have a very strong case in NSW for arguing that the owner of the expanded unit had 18.18 and everyone else's was reduced to 9.09, still adding up to 100.
Having said that, if ALL the other units were similarly extended, then it wouldn't make much difference.
But if I had doubled the size of my unit and not had to pay any more in levies because of no increase in Unit Entitlements, I'd be keeping very quiet about it. I reckon you might have got a free kick, there, Peter.
By the way, it's different again in Queensland where the unit entitlements are split when it comes to calculating levies – one charge for running costs, the other for overall maintenance.
The thinking is that while a two bedroom sub-penthouse could easily be twice the size of a two bed-room apartment elsewhere in the building, it's occupants aren't going to make twice as much use of the facilities.
But then in Queensland, strata is a whole other minefield.