FAQ’s

“ The original concept of strata title was to allow people to own their flats in multi-level buildings. It is a means by which a person can buy and own ‘property; which might be a substantial distance above ground level. Before strata title, the most common way of buying into a high rise building was to buy shares in the company which owned the building thus giving a right to occupy one of more of the flats. This is commonly called ‘company title’.”
NSW Office of Fair Trading “Buying into a strata scheme?” 2006

Common property is that part of a Strata Scheme that is owned by everybody, not any one individual. Technically it is defined as “so much of a parcel as from time to time is not comprised in any lot.” The ‘parcel’ is the land (i.e. the lots and common property combined) on which the strata scheme is based. It therefore follows that anything that is not part of a lot is part of the common property. The strata plan (together with any strata plan of subdivision or strata plan of consolidation) is an essential tool to identify the common property.

Every strata plan contains a list of the lots in the strata scheme and a corresponding allocation of a ‘unit entitlement’. The unit entitlement is a whole number and the total of the unit entitlements on the plan is called the ‘aggregate unit entitlement’. The unit entitlement is used to determine the lot owner’s;

• Share in the common property
• Voting rights when the voting is conducted by means of a poll.
• Right to share in distributions of surplus monies in the owners corporation’s administrative or sinking fund.
• Right to share in compensation monies paid by any public authority resuming the whole or part of the common property.
• Proportion of maintenance levies; and
• Obligation to contribute to repair and maintenance of common property under a joint exclusive use by-law.

The notice of an Annual General or Extraordinary General meeting of the owners corporation must be served on each owner at least seven clear days before the meeting. Where the agenda includes a motion requiring a special or unanimous resolution, the notice must also be served on each mortgagee and covenant chargee recorded on the strata roll.

If the strata scheme has a notice board, then notice of the meeting of the executive committee is given by displaying the notice on the notice board. If the strata scheme does not have a notice board, then notice of the meeting must be sent to each owner and each executive committee member. The notice of the meeting must:

• be given at least 72 hours before the time fixed for the meeting
• specify when and where the meeting is to be held
• contain a detailed agenda for the meeting

A sinking fund forecast report provides the owners corporation with budget information as follows;

• Identifies the common property items which are likely to require maintenance work and/or replacement
• Estimates the year in which the maintenance is likely to occur
• Estimates the cost of the maintenance in the year of occurrence
• Calculates the sinking fund levy contributions necessary to meet these costs after taking into account factors such as accumulated bank interest, income tax and GST.

• Most maintenance expenses accrue over time. Using a sinking fund forecast report to set the sinking fund levies ensures each owner pays a fair share of the costs attributable to their usage of the building and reduces the risk of special levies being required.

Yes they do if the strata scheme has direct employees, is commercial or is mixed residential and commercial.

On the 1st of September 2001 the Occupational Health & Safety Act 2000 and the Occupational Health & Safety Regulation 2001 were proclaimed. This regulation sets out requirements for workplaces to put into place systems to identify, assess, control and/or eliminate health or safety risks. Because Owners have work done on common property, this legislation applies to them. This means that the owners corporation is defined as an employer under the act and that the owners corporation controls premises used by people as a place of work.

The Strata Schemes Management Act requires that hazard identification and risk assessment is undertaken and risk control measures are implemented. While the Occupational Health & Safety Act 2000 has previously established duties for persons in control of premises the regulations did not fully illustrate how persons were to discharge their obligations. The Occupational Health and Safety Regulation 2001 fully supports and more specifically defines the duties of controllers of premises where work is carried out by setting requirements relating to risk management.

This means that persons, including Executive Committees and Owners Corporations in control of premises where work is carried out have specific obligations and duties to ensure that hazards that could harm a member of the public using the Common Property or a person carrying out work on the Common Property are identified.

Once these hazards are identified they must be eliminated or if this is not reasonably practical, the risk the hazard represents must be controlled to the fullest extent possible. Then these control measures need to be assessed on a regular basis to ensure that they are effectively controlling the hazards and risks evident on the Common Property. It is important that the risk assessment is consistent with that suggested by Workcover NSW. We recommend that each building ensures an Occupational Health & Safety Audit Report has been undertaken.

The contents of the report should:

• clearly identify hazards and provide photographs illustrating their location
• assess risks that may result because of the hazards
• assist the owners corporation in deciding on control measures to remove, prevent, or minimise the level of risks present in future
• provide the necessary tools to allow the owners corporation to implement control measures and develop appropriate risk management policies and procedures.

COMPLAINT MANAGEMENT PROCESS

A person wishing to make a complaint may do so in writing to:

• the staff member they were dealing with at the time unless you are making a complaint about this person;
• the Principal, or if the complaint is about:
• a product or service delivered by our company; the complaint will usually be dealt with by the relevant strata manager;
• the principal will generally deal with a staff member, the complaints;
• the Principal, the complaint will normally be dealt with by the Principal of your company and the Assistant Principal of your company

Written complaints should be emailed to mail@simplystrata.com.au

PROCEDURES FOR COMPLAINT MANAGEMENT

Our Licensee in charge will be responsible for:

1. Registering the complaint:

• registering the complaint in your companies’ complaints register
• informing the complainant that their complaint has been received and providing them with information about the process and time frame

2. Investigating the complaint:

• We will examine the complaint within 5 working days of the complaint being received
• We will inform the complainant via email within 10 working days of the complaint being received of what is being done to investigate and resolve the complaint, and the expected time frame for resolution. As far as possible, complaints or appeals will be investigated and resolved within 20 working days of being received. If this time frame cannot be met, the complainant will be informed of the reasons why and of the alternative time frame for resolution.

3. Resolving the complaint:

• Deciding or referring to the appropriate people for a decision within 20 working days of the complaint being received
• Informing the complainant of the outcome and any options for further action if required

4. What if I am unhappy with the resolution?

• If you are not happy with the outcomes of a complaint, you may be able to lodge a complaint with Strata Community Association (NSW) or Fair Trading, their office will determine if it has the power to investigate your complaint.

SCA (NSW) Code of Ethics (Constitution Rule 40)

Please click here to read the Code of Conduct.