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So, here in Victoria, I see the (only) child of the deceased owner moving in two years after the natural death of the owner.
I ask when will ownership of the unit be changed and was told it happened 18 months ago.
The heir apparent has paid the OC fees on time and kept the maintenance of the unit up to date so the Committee were happy to let things take their time.
The most recent change of a unit ownership was eight years ago and I (as Secretary) interacted with the solicitor, did the various forms and was provided with the ‘Notice of Acquisition’ when ownership changed.
So, as Secretary of our little OC, what documents do I need to add to our records to demonstrate that a legal change of ownership has occurred.
TIA
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I’m from NSW so bear this in mind.
The strata roll is not a record of ownership. The records of ownership are held by the government land title office .
The strata roll is a record of who can vote, where notices are to be sent and where levy notices are to be sent.
It’s not up to the secretary to chase up the notices of change of ownership. That’s the purchasers responsibility, usually done through their conveyancer.
Since the levies seem to be paid, let it be.
The owner is the one who is penalised because as they are not on the roll they can’t vote on motions nor stand for election.
While I mostly agree with kaindub, I think it is important to know the actual legal owner and their legal address. Only the legal owner is a member of the Owners Corporation.
The situation comes up from time-to-time in my statas. The defining ownership document is the title.
In Victoria, a copy of that title (text only) can be obtained from Landata, online, for $7.25. Delivered by email almost instantly.
https://www.landata.vic.gov.au/
The situation described is one of the holes in the legislation.
Whilst the OC can obtain the title documents to a lot (at a small cost), the legislation prescribes the method of entering such information on the strata roll. It requires a notice usually from the purchasers solicitor. Remember that the information on the strata roll contains not only the owners name, but the address for serving notices. The address may not always be the same as the lot address.
By second guessing this information the OC may expose themselves to the risk thst the true owner argues that notices were not served on the correct address.Ive been in this situation of not knowing the new owners details. It usually resolves itself when the old owner continues to receive levy notices. The old owner is on the hook for these charges until the strata roll is updated.
it’s surprising how quickly the old owner gets the new owner to get the details changed.
The title is the legally defining document of property ownership in Australia. It contains the property owner’s name and address.
The so called strata roll in VIC need only contain the lot owner’s name and address (which has to be a mailing address for non-resident owners). That’s it according to the OC Act (VIC) – just a name and an address. That information is supplied to an OC by a seller and updated by a new owner.
Of course, strata rolls now tend to have a lot more information such as, phone numbers, email addresses, managing agent details, tenant details etc etc.
While the lot owner’s name on the strata roll must match the title, all the other details in the strata roll are pretty loose and can be updated rather informally. There’s no official form – an email or phone call might suffice. And it sometimes goes wrong. And has in my stratas.
When it does goes wrong and contact with the lot owner is lost, my SMs have obtained a new copy of the title and have used that address to officially contact the lot owner. They have told me that is the legal requirement. So it’s important for non-resident lot owners to keep their title’s contact address up to date.
Bottom line: The title and the strata roll must match as far as lot owner’s name is concerned. And if contact goes wrong, the title’s address is the legal contact address.
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