What must I do as part of the owners corporation?

The main rights and responsibilities of the owners corporation include:

• Raising levies
• Employing people who will look after the building and its common property, such as cleaners, gardeners, etc
• Enforcing by-laws and suing for any damage to common property
• Adding or amending by-laws
• Insuring the building against fire, and taking out workers compensation and public liability insurance
• Keeping the building and common property in good order
• Holding annual general meetings for owners
• Keeping minutes of meetings and preparing accounts
• Recording the owners and occupiers of lots on a strata roll
• Providing information about the strata scheme to owners and mortgagees.

What must I do as an owner?

You have a few main obligations as an owner of strata title. These include:

• Paying your rates, taxes and levies on time
• Letting the owners corporation know if the owner or occupiers change
• Complying with by-laws
• Behaving in a way that does not offend other residents and does not interfere with their ‘peaceful enjoyment’ of their property
• Not altering the lot without the owners corporation and the local council’s consent where appropriate.

There are two types of regular levies payable by lot owners, both usually payable quarterly:

• An administrative levy, which funds the day to day running of the scheme, and covers such matters as common property maintenance, insurance premiums, strata manager fees and other regular expenses
• A capital works fund levy, which as the name suggests funds the ongoing capital expenses of the scheme, such as painting and replacing floor coverings for the common property.

Where an owners corporation has not sufficiently budgeted for an expense in the scheme’s budget, it may be necessary to strike a special levy. These can be substantial and are often payable in several instalments.

When buying or selling a unit, it is prudent to find out:

• Whether the owners corporation has or is likely to raise a special levy
• Whether you will be required to contribute to that special levy if it is raised before you enter into a contract to buy or sell a unit, or before the date of settlement of a contract to buy or sell a unit.

Your solicitor can include additional conditions in a contract to protect you from having to contribute to the payment of special levies that are raised prior to the date of the contract or prior to the date of completion of the contract.

Obtaining a report on the records of the owners corporation can provide useful insights into the financial position of the owners corporation and particular issues that have emerged in the running of the owners corporation. Your solicitor can organise such a report.

What are my duties as a landlord?

If you choose to rent out your property, you should give your tenants a copy of the by-laws and make it a condition of their tenancy agreement that they comply with them. You also need to let the owners corporation know the names of the tenants, the date the tenancy commenced and the name of any real estate agent involved.

Can I have pets in a strata property?

If you want to keep a pet on the property, often the standard by-laws say you first have to ask for the consent of the owners corporation, which can not unreasonably withhold permission. However, because the owners corporation can make its own by-laws, the rules for your property may well be different. New model by-laws relating to the keeping of pets commenced on 30 November 2016, but only apply if adopted by the scheme. Your solicitor can help you check this out.

If you think the owners corporation is unreasonably withholding permission for you to keep a pet, or if someone is keeping a pet without permission, you can contact NSW Fair Trading to resolve your dispute.

How do I resolve a strata dispute?

The best way to resolve a dispute with another owner or resident is to talk to them. If you cannot reach an understanding, you can ask NSW Fair Trading to mediate the dispute. Mediation involves resolving a dispute by negotiation through an independent mediator. Any agreement reached then binds everyone involved in the dispute.

The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) also deals with certain strata disputes, visit the NCAT website.

You can contact NSW Fair Trading on 1300 135 399  or visit their website.