Committee thinks 1970 strata block doesn’t need to make common property safe.

Fire safety in strata – a very, very vexed issue, in my experience. This is how I think it works (but I could be quite wrong):- Modern strata buildings will have a fire safety “Schedule”, which lists all the fire safety measures for the building, and which were specified in the building code at the time the building was constructed. These measures listed in the Schedule are all features that the OC needs to arrange to file an Annual Fire Safety Statement (AFSS) about. The AFSS confirms the measures listed in the Schedule are all being property maintained and are working satisfactorily. Your local Council, and the NSW Fire service get copies of the AFSS and check it is being lodged, and fire professionals need to inspect these measures and certify they are all good. Check with your Council for a copy of the Schedule for your building, if there happens to be one.

Older buildings may not have a Schedule. If so, then they don’t have to do anything about an AFSS, but they still have a duty to maintain any fire safety measures the building might have. Your local Council is gradually going through the strata buildings in their area, and issuing a fire safety upgrade Order to those buildings lacking a Schedule. Those buildings that get an upgrade Order then have to have a fire safety specialist prepare a report of what the building needs to do in order to bring their fire safety measures up to the current building code. Then Council will review the report, and usually issue the Order with a deadline for the building to comply, making them do renovations to upgrade all their fire safety equipment and so on. Those reported fire safety features must be listed in the Schedule, and from then on the AFSS must be filed annually.

Council are issuing such Orders according to some arcane system, but any fire emergency in a building without a Schedule will likely trigger the process to have Council issue an upgrade Order. I’ve heard that a resident or owner in a building without a Schedule can make a big enough fuss at Council, to also trigger the Order… Probably, it would be a good idea to meet with the Council’s fire safety officer or engineer, to discuss your building, and to ask what Council would need to issue that Order? If you were to get a report done, by a properly qualified fire expert, outlining the serious safety problems, which you provide to the Council’s fire safety officer, then that could also trigger an Order, too. The NSW Fire Service might also be involved in triggering a fire safety upgrade Order for a building without a Schedule, but I’m not sure how.

But be aware that your neighbors will likely not be happy with you, if you succeed in triggering a safety upgrade Order, because of the cost involved of bringing the building’s fire safety measures up to code. Keep in mind that the whole building must be brought up to code, and that you can’t pick and choose, such as to just do your Unit, or just do some items like the floor area, and not the rest. It’s everything, for the whole building. So save up your money for the inevitable special levies of hundreds of thousands of dollars, quite possibly.

A smarter approach, is to get your strata committee and other owners on-side, and decide that an Order is inevitable sooner or later, so it will be much better for your building to take the initiative. Get the report, but approach the Council on your own initiative with a well thought out plan for the upgrade. Since you are initiating it, you can plan the renovations and upgrade over a longer period, and at your own convenience. Rather than responding to at Council Order to carry out an upgrade over a short period, without much say in it.

Good luck. And here’s hoping the Order isn’t triggered by a serious fire in the meantime!