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NSW: Q&A Can the committee lock the gates outside of pool open hours?
Leanne Habib, Premium Strata Question: Our swimming pool open hours are between 8 am and 9:30 pm daily. Can the committee decide to lock the pool gates outside of these times? Our Strata Manager says “No”!
Strata & Airbnb: How to stop airbnb in your building
Reuben Schwarz, BnbGuard. Airbnb and other short-term letting sites have taken Australia by storm. Unfortunately, these rentals often negatively affect the neighbours around them. Find out how to stop airbnb in your building.
QLD: Q&A What changes can you make to an apartment?
Frank Higginson, Hynes Legal Question: What changes can you make to an apartment? The contract between the developer and a purchaser contained a clause empowering them to frost the glass surrounds on their private rooftop terrace.
SA: Q&A Repairing exhaust fan to stop cooking smells from my unit
Tony Johnson, Horner Management. Question: It seems my exhaust fan needs replacing as the neighbour is complaining of cooking smells. Is the repair/replacement my cost or up to the strata to fix?
NSW: Q&A Water damage on my ceiling from the apartment upstairs
Leanne Habib, Premium Strata Question: Who is responsible for the water damage on my ceiling and the white goods in the kitchen caused by the apartment upstairs? Their laundry upstairs is in a cupboard and is not plumbed in properly. This has flooded my kitchen numerous times.
QLD: Q&A Short Term Letting Insurance in Far North Queensland
Frank Higginson, Hynes Legal and Lia De Sousa, Whitbread Insurance Brokers Question: I am an owner occupier of one half of a duplex in FNQ. The other half is used solely for short term letting. I feel it is not fair that I need to pay more for my share of strata insurance due to the need for short term letting insurance.
Bannermans Lawyers. Smoking is one of the major sources of disputes in strata schemes. It can cause numerous problems for strata schemes, potentially undermining the amenity of the building, increasing common property repair and cleaning costs and causing fire hazards. It can even result in compensation orders being made against owners of tenanted strata lots owned as an investment property.
Bailey Compton, Leverage Group – Solicitors & Academy. The amendments to the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, introduced in December 2015, have made strata schemes totally undemocratic. I know the legislation was designed to stop proxy harvesting; however, the new legislation has been drafted in such a way that two people can control an owners corporation.
Bannermans Lawyers. Owners and occupiers can have very different ideas about what arrangements are appropriate for assisting those with special needs to access and use their lots and common property facilities, participate in scheme meetings and observe cultural traditions.
NSW: The benefits of keeping accurate records to avoid confusion
Bailey Compton, Leverage Group – Academy & Solicitors. This is an absolute timely warning about the benefits of keeping accurate records in your owners corporation. Also, it is important to maintain a strata register that keeps the total history of the organisation in one box.
NSW: Q&A Smoke drift from tenant who regularly has a smoke on the balcony above
Leanne Habib, Premium Strata Question: For the last few months, the tenant in the apartment above ours regularly sits and has a smoke on the balcony. Their smoking causes smoke drift into our flat each time they smoke on the balcony. What can we do?
Herron Todd White This month, HTW has defined and distilled their
middle ring markets and come up with the most
comprehensive national report on the opportunities and pitfalls that present themselves in the country’s middle rings.
Australia Wide
Specialising in everything to keep Strata Complexes safe & compliant. We provide the full range of building inspections, reporting & training services for Owners Corporations / Bodies Corporate.
Quick WA Q&A
We sometimes receive interesting questions into the site which aren't quite long enough to create into a post. We thought we'd share some here. We recently received the following question: WA: My question is, what requires a resolution without dissent? When would renovations to common property require this type of resolution if ever? Elizabeth Florence, Abode Strata replied: This is a very broad question and therefore requires a rather broad answer. We find it is Best Practice to refer owners who have queries such as these to the Landgate Publication “A Guide to Strata Titles”. Response to this enquiry may be found within: Section 20 Types of Resolutions
Except in the case of a two-lot scheme, where a unanimous resolution is required, a resolution without dissent is passed, if: o The owners (or their proprietors) of not less than 50% of the lots in the scheme, who between them represent not less than 50% of the unit entitlements in the scheme, vote in favour of the resolution and: o No person votes against it at the meeting when it is voted on or within in 28 days later. (see sections 3AC, 3C and 3CA STA) 25 Building Alterations, approval for structural alterations, which includes applications and grounds for refusing the application. Section 25 Building Alterations, Approval, Applications & Ground for refusal
