The rapid changes to strata management under COVID-19 have left owners corporations and strata managers alike with many operational questions.
To assist you to navigate this challenging time, we have prepared some answers, solutions and tools to assist with FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS arising from Covid-19 in respect of the following areas:
A “fixture” refers to objects that are attached to the land in such a manner that they become part of the land. Once an object becomes a part of the property, it belongs to the property owner. But how does the concept of fixture and ownership play out in context of strata scheme buildings?
Whilst the most common strata building defects are still generally water ingress from defective membranes and window sealants as well as the fire and life safety non-compliances we are now also seeing a lot more defects claims featuring mould and termite damage, particularly in coastal and regional areas.
This will depend on the circumstances.
On 1 July 2020, the Design and Building Practitioners - Particulars for Regulated Designs Order 2021 (Regulated Designs Order) came into effect. Under section 5(3) of the Design and Building Practitioner Act 2020 (NSW) (DBPA), the Minister may, by order published in the Gazette, specify particulars that are additional to those prescribed by the regulations for regulated designs or regulated designs belonging to a particular class.
Amendments to the Strata Management Schemes Act 2015 (NSW) (SSMA) and its regulations came into effect on 24 August 2021. These changes significantly move the legal position on pets from the recent Court of Appeal decision in Cooper.
Most people may already know that an owners corporation has a strict duty to repair and maintain the common property of a strata scheme. But do they know that if the owners corporation fails to fulfil its strict duty of repair and maintenance that they have a right to claim damages (compensation) in the sum of tens of thousands of dollars for its breach of such statutory obligation?
Parking is a vexing question. Owners corporations and their strata managing agents have been struggling with it for years. They are not helped by uncertainties in the law, limited police and council powers, restrictive strata management laws and widespread misconceptions about what is permissible.
What is Magnesite Flooring?
Magnesite flooring was commonly installed in Australia throughout the 1960’s and up until the early 1980’s. It involved the mixing of magnesium oxychloride cement with organic fillers, and was installed as a slab topping or as a self-levelling topping to prepare the slab for the installation of other type of floor coverings such as carpet or tiles.
What is "nuisance"?
Nuisance is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as: “a person or thing causing inconvenience or annoyance.”
In NSW, private nuisance laws are generally derived from case law (the common law), rather than statutes and legislation.
A sporting game can become an ugly affair when the referee blows the whistle for every infringement, seems to be blowing it in favour of one team or fails to blow it all. It works the same way with enforcement of strata by-laws. A scheme can quickly become dysfunctional when the strata committee is over or under active or seems to be favouring one group of owners over another.
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