Repairs & Maintenance
Maintenance of your owners corporation (formerly body corporate) common property includes:
- corrective maintenance – to keep your building at an acceptable standard. This includes cleaning gutters and changing light bulbs. It should be covered in the annual fees
- predictable maintenance of major capital items – to prevent the predictable failure of building infrastructure or major capital items; for example, replacing lifts due to wear and tear. These costs should be covered in the annual fees under the maintenance plan
- emergency corrective maintenance – must happen immediately for health, safety, security reasons. It includes repairs to avoid rapid deterioration of the structure or fabric; for example, roof repairs after storm damage, or repairing broken glass. The costs should be covered by replacement and reinstatement insurance.
Your owners corporation can only make significant alterations to the use or appearance of its common property if the alterations are:
- listed in the maintenance plan (see below, Strata Base suggests that all Owners Corporation gain a maintenance plan) or
- approved by special resolution at a general meeting or
- composed of works for the upgrading, renovating or improving of the common property, and
- the estimated total cost is double annual total fees, or
- the works require a planning building permit, and
- a special resolution is passed.
The exception is an alteration that is reasonably believed to be required to be done immediately to ensure safety or to prevent significant loss or damage, which can be approved by ordinary resolution or by the committee.
As a lot owner in an owners corporation, you:
- are entitled to renovate or refurbish the interior of your apartment or unit. You must notify your owners corporation if the renovations require a building or planning permit
- must keep the exterior of your lot in ‘good and serviceable repair’. Its appearance must not affect other lot owners’ use and enjoyment of the property.
If an owner fails to keep the exterior in good and serviceable repair, an owners corporation can, in writing, order the owners to carry out repairs.
If the requested repairs are not carried out within 28 days, the owners corporation can perform the work without the lot owner’s approval and charge the owner for the cost.
Your building will need maintenance as it ages. Good maintenance helps retain the value of the building and makes the property more enjoyable to live in. Poor maintenance or neglect can lead to serious damage and safety hazards.
An owners corporation maintenance plan must cover:
- major capital items for repair and replacement over the next 10 years
- the present condition of those items
- when the items or components will need to be repaired or replaced
- the estimated cost of the repair and replacement of those items or components
- the expected life of those items or components once repaired or replaced.
If an owners corporation has a maintenance plan then it must have a maintenance fund to cover the cost of works in the plan. The owners corporation is required to report on implementation of its maintenance plan, if it has one, at each annual general meeting.