The body corporate and owners are both responsible for maintenance in a community titles scheme.
Sometimes it can be hard to work out who is responsible for what.
An important first step is to find out:
which plan of subdivision your scheme is registered under
and
what regulation module applies to your scheme.
The regulation module is set out in the community management statement for your community titles scheme.
Community titles schemes are registered under a plan of subdivision. This is recorded as a survey plan. The survey plan shows the boundaries of the common property and the lots in that scheme.
There are several types of survey plans. Boundaries will be defined differently depending on the type of plan registered. The 2 common types of survey plans are:
community management statement—this will tell you what your regulation module is.
Once you know the boundaries of the lots and common property, the survey plan and the regulation module, you can work out what maintenance the body corporate is responsible for and what maintenance each lot owner must do.
Maintenance of common property and lots
A body corporate must maintain the common property in a good and structurally sound condition. The owner of a lot must maintain their lot in good condition.
Maintenance can include work that is needed to prevent damage. For example, a body corporate or lot owner may have to take steps to prevent termite damage to lots or the common property.
Let’s talk minimum housing standards. New rental reforms are requiring greater compliance on housing standards.
It is important to know there are NO changes to body corporate legislation and the obligations of bodies corporate. Got that? There are NO changes to what bodies corporate are already doing.
But the reforms do mean there will be owners and landlords who will be required to do additional maintenance and improvements. And for owners and landlords whose property is in a body corporate, there may be work that overlaps and falls under body corporate maintenance obligations.
So, the key message here is everyone needs to be organised. A proactive approach to property maintenance avoids owner and landlord requests piling up because body corporate decisions take time. The faster you act before problems arise, the better chance you have of avoiding problems along the way.
The new minimum housing standards include ensuring properties –
are weatherproof and structurally sound,
are secure against unauthorised entry,
have no dampness or mould due to neglect of common property maintenance, and
have fully compliant utility infrastructure such as pipes and drains.
These can be tricky areas to deal with between bodies corporate and owners so please find out what you’re responsible for by checking maintenance obligations on our website.
Owners and bodies corporate need to work together to meet these new minimum housing standards, along with normal maintenance obligations. Working together can avoid disputes.
Search BCCM and maintenance to find more information on our website.
