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Hi All,
Our Chairman holds all our main keys and refuses to provide copies to any other Executive members. He is in his late 80’s.
I am keen to get my hands on a copy of the key to access to electrical room.
We have had 3 recent incidents where I needed access to the room and he was on holidays:
– tiling of the foyer, painting of the foyer and for the cleaners to access the room to obtain light bulbs (in the cupboard).
Does anyone understand the rules about access to electrical rooms (where the meter and fuses are). And how do I get a key without starting World War 3.
I note I called our Strata Manager and he said I can get a key anywhere at a key cutting service. Ive called 3 and they all said they cant provide a key unless I already have one.
Many thanks
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I have been told that all electricians and in particular local ones hold keys to fit all strata electricity Meter Rooms. Not sure how it works but I suppose it is some sort of common lock set-up. You can understand locksmiths being a bit cagey about it (no pun intended) but maybe it needs to be suggested to your Strata Manager he / she needs to be a little more helpful and also the Chairman.
Do you really want to have key to the Meter Room? Remember James Spader’s great line in Sex, Lies and Videotape where he says he doesn’t ever want to have keys to anything because it’s too much responsibility.
Everyone on the EC should have access to keys for common areas.
But there’s no need for more keys.
Our OC’s solution: We have a combination lock, key safe somewhere on the accessible common property that holds common property keys. All the EC and the manager know the combination lock’s code.
Simple.
And in emergencies keys can be found even if a call to a EC member is needed to find out the code.
We had to get our strata manager to write an authorisation letter that we could give to the locksmith before we could get keys for the EC. Note that (in Sydney, at least) there are 2 types of keys – NMB and Abloy. NMB is the older type of key. Locksmith is able to provide these easily. I understand locksmiths can’t cut Abloy keys, and it’s a much bigger hassle to get these.
@Marvin said:
We had to get our strata manager to write an authorisation letter that we could give to the locksmith before we could get keys for the EC. Note that (in Sydney, at least) there are 2 types of keys – NMB and Abloy. NMB is the older type of key. Locksmith is able to provide these easily. I understand locksmiths can’t cut Abloy keys, and it’s a much bigger hassle to get these.That sounds a bit like the tail wagging the dog. The SM works for the EC/OC. I will assume that the locksmith asked for an authority with the Corporate Seal on it, and as the SM usually has custody of that, you had to go via the SM.
Locked meter cupboards or rooms work on a master key system, because meter readers and licensed electricians need access.
Marvin is correct about the two types: NMB and Abloy. My understanding is that NMB is the old system and all new installations must be Abloy and that there is only one installer in Sydney approved by Ausgrid, see here:
https://www.integritysecurity.com.au/services/em-system-information
EC members should also have access for emergencies.
But I don’t like the key cabinet idea.
If you have a control-freak, they will simply change the combination so that only they have access.
What are people’s opinions on whether all owners have a right to access the meter room whenever they like (to read their own meter in this era of rising electricity prices), or whether they should have to wake up an EC member to accompany them to do so, or whether they have no rights at all?
@Kangaroo said:
But I don’t like the key cabinet idea.
If you have a control-freak, they will simply change the combination so that only they have access.
What are people’s opinions on whether all owners have a right to access the meter room whenever they like (to read their own meter in this era of rising electricity prices), or whether they should have to wake up an EC member to accompany them to do so, or whether they have no rights at all?
I suppose a control freak could do that. It hasn’t happened in our OC. It’s about giving practical access with reasonable security. We use 2 key safes. One is in our Fire Indicator Panel room which contains keys needed to reset any false alarms. A fire alarm causes deafening bells over all the common areas. It’s kind of important to have access to this key at 5am when someone burnt some toast!
As for accessing common areas like meter cupboards/rooms, again it’s about practical access with reasonable security. Although all residents might have a right to enjoy common property, the OC has a right to provide security and safety which can include restricting access to certain areas. (Vic OC act 2006).
I don’t think the electricity authorities are too keen about unqualified people being in meter rooms, for safety reasons. There is also a security risk from mischievous interference with settings.
If there is any incident in the building that necessitates access to this area, it should be attended to by a licenced electrician.
Perhaps the cleaner could be given a more appropriate area to store his spare light bulbs. Likewise, if painting or tiling is impeded by electrical installations, perhaps a LE should also be involved?
@Boronia said:
I don’t think the electricity authorities are too keen about unqualified people being in meter rooms, for safety reasons. There is also a security risk from mischievous interference with settings.Well, they’re not unhappy about it. They tell you how to do it, practically invite you to do it, here:
https://www.ausgrid.com.au/Common/Our-network/Metering/Reading-your-own-meter.aspx
So reading your own meter would seem to be a right that all customers should have. Torrens Title owners have it.
Yes, there is a risk from mischievous (or criminal) interference, and that is why the meter box/room needs to be locked, Torrens or Strata Title.
The dilemma only occurs in Strata Title, where all resident’s meters may be in the same box/room.
Should non-EC owners be denied what others have as a right?
MrPinkCarpet should certainly be given a key. He is an EC member, and was supervising tiling and painting on the common property while the Chairman was away and wanted to turn the power off for safety. Sure, he could have called a licensed electrician to flip the switch off each work day and on again after work, but that would have been expensive.
BTW, a lot of cleaners already have master keys, because they like to turn the lights on in the daytime so they can see what they’re cleaning, or because they’re also responsible for replacing blown bulbs.
It’s a safety issue if people cannot access the meter room in order to isolate power to one’s apartment. Let me explain our situation:
We’ve been living in a duplex for some time, and have always had access to the ‘meter room’, where there are only two meters – one for each apartment. The room is never locked. However, the main switch for our apartment is located in that meter room rather than in our sub-box located elsewhere in the building – which contains our circuit breakers. When our neighbour enclosed the meter room in their garage two years ago, after moving their garage door outwards (clearly an area of common property), we no longer had access to the meter room. But worse, if we needed to switch off power to our apartment in an emergency, such as fire, we would not have been able to. Situations like those described below call into question not only the motives of those jealously guarding their keys, but the issue of safety for the entire building.
@MrPinkCarpet said:
Does anyone understand the rules about access to electrical rooms (where the meter and fuses are). And how do I get a key without starting World War 3If you are in NSW, then assuming that the said rooms are common property, then every lot owner (not necessarily an executive committee member) has an unfettered right of access to that room depending on the by-laws of the strata scheme. This is because the rights of common property are proprietary. That is, every owner, as tenants in common in shares equal to unit entitlement, own the common property.
The by-laws probably could control access to the common property (e.g. set out a procedure as to how one desiring to access the common property should take) but they cannot deny access to the common property unless the by-law is an “exclusive use” by-law (which has to satisfy a number of conditions).
In absence of by-laws controlling access to the electrical room then one could probably conclude that you are entitled to a key to the said room.
The other posters in this thread are correct regarding electrical room keys. If your building was built prior to 2011 or so then the electrical rooms are probably on NMB keys (which are the same profile/shape as most house keys). Otherwise they will be Abloy.
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