When is a logical extension of your lot seen as a land grab? When someone in your strata scheme isn’t getting any benefit so they decide that you shouldn’t either.
Whether it’s growing your unit into an unused loft space or using an area of common property that no one else has access to, your proposals may make perfect sense to you but leave some of your neighbours feeling exploited and cheated.
Take Flatchatter Sasha who owns two ground floor apartments in a small block of six.
“I would like exclusive use for both ground floor apartments – currently classified as common property, however I get a lot of resistance from other owners,” she writes in the Flat Chat forum. “Nobody else wants to spend the money on the courtyards because access is so difficult and it feels like you’re in someone else’s home.
“Access can only be gained by climbing over multiple bins and through a gate at each side of the building. There is a high fence between both the yards – in effect they are private courtyards.”
The owners corp recently discussed the possibility of leasing the courtyards to Sasha but some owners felt the proposed $1000 a year wasn’t nearly enough, despite by-laws that would ensure access for maintenance.
There is a formula set by the High Court for calculating the amount payable when owners take over common property. Basically, it’s what’s left when you take the assessed value of the improved property and subtract the value of the existing lot plus costs to the owner of the improvements, including legals and the requisite by-laws.
In this case, Sasha has been told by a valuer that there is no increase in the value as the courtyards are effectively exclusive anyway. Meanwhile, the courtyards are pretty much neglected as no other owners have any use for them.
What Sasha should do is put forward a proposal for an exclusive use by-law that errs on the side of generosity and has all the legal safety nets the owners corp needs so that it makes sense for them to agree.
But if the dog-in-a-manger view prevails, she should make demands that the owners corp fulfils its legal obligations to bring the courtyards up to scratch. That should get their attention.
There’s no free lunch in strata – and that cuts both ways. There’s a lot more on this HERE.
