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At the last Strata Meeting the committee proposed the motion below:
MOTION 21: OTHER FIRE SAFETY MATTERS Other fire matters:
(a) Standing item – recharge owners for any additional fees where owner access issues cause extra fire safety costs to be charged to the owners’ corporation. Owners are advised that access must be granted for all smoke alarm and fire door inspections and testing.
My questions are:
1) How much notice has to be given for inspections? I live out of area and need time to organise to travel to my unit.
2) Does the Strata Committee have the right to charge the owners for not being available to open units, if proper notice is not given? Do they have any right to charge owners without going through any process in the Strata Scheme Management Act 2015?
3) NSW is in lock down and I cannot leave my LGA. I would have to break the law to be able to open my unit for the fire inspection. This an owners’ access issue but I have no control over it.
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The owners corp has an obligation to ensure apartments are accessible for fire inspections and these are conducted annually at the very least.
I don’t know about any standard notice but if it was inadequate, you could certainly challenge the charge at Fair Trading and NCAT.
To answer question 2, this usually comes in the form of them having to arrange a second or subsequent visit by fire safety inspectors, which comes at a cost, which they are passing on to owners who didn’t make their apartments accessible.
With that in mind, and given your situation, you might want to consider making arrangements for access to the apartment at times when you aren’t able to get there, such as by leaving a key with another resident, or the building manager (if you have one).
If there’s no one there that you trust, you could even send a spare key to the fire safety people. The thing is, this is going to happen every year, possibly more often than that, and you need to have a plan B for when you can’t be there.
How about asking if you can put a key safe in the electrical fuse cupboard or somewhere else with limited access?
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
Just to be clear…. when you say ” at the last Strata Meeting the Committee proposed ..” I am assuming that this was a motion on the Agenda for a General Meeting of Owners and we are not talking about meetings of the strata committee.
Reasonable Notice should be given to Owners quite separately to including it in a Motion on an agenda – what if the Motion was not passed ?! Fire inspections are mandatory
That Notice process would at least open the door to some discussion around the logistics of gaining entry.
Right to charge for non access ? As Jimmy notes, we are talking about passing on charges from the Fire Inspection Contractor for having to return a second time.
It is doubtful whether the owners corporation has the power to resolve to pass any costs of this sort onto owners without there being a by-law in place entitling it to do so. Does your scheme have such an empowering by- law ?
John Hutchinson
m: 0418 797470 e: john.hutchinson@strataanswers.com.auS T R A T A A N S W E R S PTY LTD practical solutions for strata living
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