If you’re buying into your first apartment building and you are not already familiar with it, you will no doubt encounter the Strata By-Laws. If you’ve rented in an apartment, you may also have seen these before and not really paid much attention to them unless you needed a new key or swipe card and had to speak with the Strata Manager.
What is Strata?
When you have a standalone property, you will incur rates and charges for your land and the services that council provide such as garbage collection. When you purchase an apartment, these charges are split among the owners in the building and can often include services such as water. Strata is made up of the lots in the building and each owner of the lots becomes a member of the owners corporation and strata holds the common property on behalf of the owners. This means things like common areas, gardens, driveways and service and utility rooms. The fees are known as strata levies which are paid quarterly and include things like insurance, management costs and repairs and maintenance to name a few.
What are By-laws?
Strata By-laws are rules set by the owners corporation for the purpose of controlling or managing the use of common areas, where you can and cannot park, the keeping of pets and rules about renovating your lot. Common rules in by-laws include things like:
· Noise – you cannot create noise that might disturb a neighbour in the strata;
· Obstruction – you cannot cause another lot to be obstructed or interfere with the access to common property for other residents;
· Damage – you cannot damage the common property such as gardens or other common areas or use common property for your own purpose without prior consent; and
· Guests – owners should take responsibility for any guests that come to their property and ensure they do not interfere with the rights of any other owners.
These are just a few types of common by-laws. These will vary depending on the building, the residents, where the building is located and what the owners corporation may vote on.
What Are Special By-Laws?
If you are intending to renovate your apartment, install a new service such as air-conditioning, move walls or plumbing services, you will need to approach the owners corporation with your proposed Special By-law. In most cases, Strata Managers will recommend that you first seek legal advice about your proposed Special By-law and in some cases the owners corporation may require it be drafted by a lawyer before it is submitted.
When you intend to renovate or make changes to common property located in your lot (such as on walls on your balcony) you will need to include in the by-law any proposed works intended to be undertaken such as drilling holes in the wall, maintaining exclusive use over a part of the common property for the benefit of your lot, or moving walls or fixtures like lighting and plumbing.
A special by-law will also include things such as:
· What will happen if you damage common property;
· What the owners corporation can do if you fail to notify them of works or how they may recover costs for repairs to damage caused by your works;
· What the works will entail and how you will manage them; and
· Annex plans if applicable showing the works to be undertaken.
What Next?
When your special by-law is ready, you will propose this at the next general or annual general meeting and the special by-law will be submitted to them for a vote. To get your works approved in via the special by-law you will need to ensure that no more than 25% of the votes are against the inclusion of the special by-law and therefore at least 75% are in support of your works.
If you are ready to prepare your special by-law, contact us today for a confidential discussion about how we can assist you with your by-law drafting. We can help you understand what you will need to do, how to address your works and what to do once your by-law is ready.
This article is not intended to be a substitute for tailored legal advice and should not be regarded as such. Harriss Jones Lawyers recommends you seek legal advice for your circumstances as your situation may differ to others.
