Owner Responsibilities in Strata

What are the responsibilities
of strata owners?

The following provides a basic overview of the owner responsibilities in strata. We encourage owners to become involved in the decisions surrounding your asset and/or home or place of work.

BY-LAWS

By-laws are the rules of occupation. If you are an owner-investor, you have an obligation to ensure that your tenants are provided with a copy of the by-laws for the scheme within 14 days of the tenant taking possession of the lot.

The legislation allows the scheme to obtain an order for payment of a monetary penalty by the person who has committed a knowing breach of the by-laws.

THREE SPECIFIC OBLIGATIONS IN BY-LAWS

1. Owners, occupiers, and others are not to interfere with support or shelter provided by the lot or with services.
2. An owner must notify of changes to the structure of the lot.
3. Owners, occupiers and other persons are not to create a nuisance.

TENANCY NOTICE

An owner is to advise the owners corporation within 14 days of the details of the lease or sub-lease. The details must include: name of the tenant, address for notice to tenants, the start date of the lease, name of the property manager if relevant.

In situations where 50% or more of a scheme is not owner-occupied, then the legislation allows for a tenant representative on the strata committee.

STRATA ROLL

The strata roll needs to be updated whenever a resident moves in or out, or when a property is bought or sold. New owners and landlords are required to give these details to the secretary, usually within 14 days of the change.

PAYMENT OF LEVIES

Each owner has an obligation to pay the contribution levied on their lot as decided at the annual general meeting of the owners corporation. Each owner should be aware:

• That the levy is determined by the budget and apportioned in accordance with the unit entitlement of the lot.
• The detailed budget is provided to each owner as part of the notice of the annual general meeting. It shows the breakdown of what the costs are associated with running your scheme, both day to day and for capital works.
• Of the due dates of the levy cycle, and that 10% penalty interest is incurred for late payments which is payable to the owners corporation trust account.

SAFETY MEASURES

Safety always rates high on the hierarchy of our personal needs. The Act imposes a duty to repair and maintain common property. In addition to this obligation your scheme has various compliance obligations to your local council, state government and national authorities ranging from fire measures, lift safety, window devices, etc. Owners must provide access to their lots to enable the variety of obligations to be met.

STRATA MEETINGS

You are afforded the right to vote at meetings of the owners corporation once your details are on the strata roll and the amounts levied on your lot are fully paid at the time of the meeting. Your committee is elected at the annual general meeting. They have a duty of care to look after the best interests of the scheme. They effectively become your decision-makers.

Committee members look to their Strata Plus strata manager to give guidance under the legislative framework and what is deemed best practice. The committee members are volunteers who give their time willingly. The term is until the next annual general meeting.

BE INFORMED

Notification via email

Strata legislation allows email to be an acceptable method of contact. The owner must still direct in writing their address (postal or email) for all notices and correspondence. Allowing us to correspond via email assists in keeping your scheme’s costs down.

Our My Property portal provides 24/7 Free access to by-laws, the Strata Plan, application forms, notices and minutes of all meetings and other useful information.  If you have misplaced your login details, simply request via our website.

The governing laws for NSW owners corporations are the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 & the 2016 Strata Regulations and the Property and Stock Agents Act 2002 & Regulations 2014.