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I live in a 50 + Strata Complex in NSW. These Villas are all ground floor. We own the ground the villas are built on. We pay individual council rates and water rates.
There is an ongoing question as to where common property starts and private lots end as there are no markings to indicate the boundaries. We have ongoing disagreements as to where the common property starts and finishes particularly when dealing with trees planted as we have no fences either.
My question is: Is it the Owners Corporation responsibility to make sure the markings indicating the boundaries are present, As say surveyors pegs.?? All lot entitlements are different in area.
Thank you.
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Do you have access to a Cadastral map of your scheme? A Cadastral map is a map showing legal survey boundaries, portion and plan numbers, parish and county names and boundaries.
In NSW the ‘cadastre map’ is the official index map of land showing boundaries, railways, roads, waterways, parcel identifiers and other information which define subdivision patterns and other parcel features of a locality on the ground. This is currently maintained by NSW Land Registry Services in the Digital Cadastral Database (DCDB). Their phone number is 1300 052 637.
Sometimes it is possible to get a general idea of the boundaries from this map but if precision and certainty is needed then your OC may need to hire the services of a cadastral surveyor to re-peg the boundaries. The surveyor should provide a quote.
Being that the boundary to be defined is between the common property and the individual Lot owners then the cost should be shared between the OC (for the common property) and each and every affected Lot owners. If all Lot owners are affected then the OC should pay for the total cost of the survey.
After the boundaries have been identified and pegged then the markers should not be removed. I live in Qld where it is a criminal offence (punishable by a fine) to interfere with a survey marker.
Is it possible to have the boundaries of the Lots more permanently defined such as by garden beds, low fences or something similar?
Actually if each of the villas are on a separate (privately owned) Title then it sounds like you’re dealing with a “dividing fences” matter. (between each villa and the Common Property). Same as if you were dealing with a fence between the Common Property and an unrelated neighbouring property.
If so then the general guiding principle is that the cost of any surveying, and construction of any dividing fence/structure would be shared 50-50 between the two parties.
Getting agreement ahead of time is “better” but not completely necessary. When agreement can’t be reached usually one party (the OC in this case?) could construct a not-extravagant “fence” and send the other party an invoice for 50% of costs. If the OC chooses the quote/contractor this would also help ensure the “fence” structure was of consistent appearance and construction-quality across the whole property.
Most states’ laws will fully support 50% of a “reasonable” fence structure as an enforceable debt, regardless of whether the other party has agreed or not. (but it’s better if they do agree)
In the very worst case the debt is recoverable against the proceeds of sale of the other property. Also depending how the OC issued or structured the debt to each villa owner you might find that a non-paying villa owner becomes “non-financial” and unable to vote on matters at OC meetings.Would suggest dividing total costs by length of all “fencing” constructed (= $/m figure). This makes calculation of costs to each villa straight-forward. (50% of $/m by the length of fencing for that villa)
I don’t see why this would not also apply to lesser “fencing” if you did not actually want a fence constructed for some reason. Such as rows of timber bollards, such as you see around recreation areas. Or any other infrastructure used to delineate the property boundary.
@fcd said:
Actually if each of the villas are on a separate (privately owned) Title then it sounds like you’re dealing with a “dividing fences” matter.The original post states that there are no fences.
There should be an original strata plan that shows the boundaries of common property (delineated by solid black lines). Dig that out and let it be your guide.
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
Jimmy, yep I got that there were no fences at present.
I was thinking more of the situation of installing a new fence or other dividing structure. There’s clearly a “who-pays” component of the original question for installing some sort of property boundary marking – which I think might be best considered under dividing fences principles.
Also I suspect simply marking the property boundaries with a permanent survey marker or other low-set device would be ineffective against the rules-don’t-apply-to-me crowd. (who will continue to park as they currently do) So will simply provide clarity of which cars are in the wrong place but create further work for the committee to then try deal with each car – probably case by case for every occurrence.
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