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Considering how few fatalities there are in apartment fires, the dangers from unit block blazes do seem to occupy a lot of bureaucratic brain space.
On the other hand, it could be that the diligence that may seem intrusive and excessive at times, is the reason you are less likely to perish in an apartment fire than a stand-alone house blaze.
Of course, at the forefront of all our minds is the horrendous fire in the Grenfell Tower in London last year, in which more than 80 people died.
But Grenfell was a special case, with inadequate fire safety and no sprinkler system all wrapped up in highly flammable material.
We’ll be looking at aluminium cladding on new buildings in next week’s column but for now our focus is on the older, smaller buildings that pre-date sensible fire ordinances while, ironically, often being built with materials that almost guarantee any fire would turn into an inferno.
For decades, the owners of units in older buildings have dreaded the imposition of fire safety orders. Sensible renovations and even basic building maintenance have been delayed or side-stepped completely for fear that coming on to your council’s radar with a development application would inevitably lead to a visit from the fire safety officer.
Added to that is the almost traditional neglect of maintenance (or sinking) funds in older buildings and you can appreciate the horror inspired by the prospects of being ordered to install back-to-base smoke alarms, new fire doors and, especially, a comprehensive sprinkler system.
The fact that you are living in a building that might actually need these safety measures to protect its residents seems to be secondary to the cost involved in bringing it up to scratch.
But what do you do when an inspector calls and the shopping list of essential safety improvements on his or her clipboard add up to bankruptcy for the building or, at least, a lot of heartache for people who just can’t afford to pay.
Sell and move somewhere cheaper? Think what an impending bill for tens of thousands of dollars would do to your sale price.
The first thing you might do as a group is hire a building consultant experienced in negotiating councils away from their Rolls Royce fire safety measures and towards a Toyota Corolla solution.
Then, if you don’t have the money in the bank, consider a strata loan. The premiums are slightly higher than normal loans but they help spread the pain that a massive special levy would inflict.
Or you could join the growing number of small blocks that are selling their rooftops or backyards to be turned into new units, the profits used to bring their old buildings up to scratch.
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.
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welcome to alarms going when when someone burns the toast,or steam from shower sets off alarm,oh and fire brigade will charge $100s of dollars to storm the building ,why are home units residents 2nd class citizens !!! if i want to have a traditinal ozzy BBQ,i will be charged for the fire alarm,yet if i live in a house,no worrys,turn the alarm off yourself.i,ve seen the fire brigade knock down every door,in a hallway of 6 ,to find a malfuncting ,rouge alarm going off.i lived in potts point were a few years ago after every building was told to install detectors ,fire trucks were going uo and down the road daily doing the same call outs over and over.why dont they go to the western suburbs of sydney were unit owners are unable to afford this ,and see the reaction,becouse the fire guys will be chassed out of the building,thats why
This is an informative article thanks Jimmy.
We are planning an attic conversion into the ceiling above our unit, and our Strata Manager has noted: “It should be noted that Council will most definitely impose on the Owners Corporation to upgrade their fire safety requirements, this cost would be the liability of the Owners Corporation and without seeing the terms of the schedule, would suggest that this cost alone would be between $30,000 – $50,000.” Ouch!!!!
You have said in the article – – “The first thing you might do as a group is hire a building consultant experienced in negotiating councils away from their Rolls Royce fire safety measures and towards a Toyota Corolla solution”
I presume the costs mentioned above would be the Rolls Royce type – most definitely only need a Corolla here! Could you please suggest the next steps required? and where we might find the building consultant experts required? What type of consultant would this be?
BTW: we are a block of 6, double brick construction, built in 1930s. About 5 years ago we upgraded our common property lighting, fire alarms, exit signs and emergency lighting in common areas and new fire doors on each level. What are the types of upgrades that might be needed above and beyond these fixtures?
Many thanks,
MC.
Madame_Chaire: The Strata Manager would not be an ‘expert’ on either fire safety or on what the council would require. I would not take the SM’s ‘advice’ as ‘gospel’.
I would have thought that if you are installing an attic conversion in your Lot that any additional fire security measures would probably be for the internals of the Lot and therefore should not be a cost that the OC or their insurance should be responsible for. A smoke alarm, at the very least, will need to be installed on the new level that you are creating.
Perhaps you could contact a structural engineer (which you will probably need for your renovation, in any case) or your building inspector or your council first to ask their opinion on what additional fire safety measures will need to be taken (if any), rather than relying on the ‘advice’ provided by the SM.
Is your attic conversion for use as a storage room or as a living space?
In NSW the regulations are:
- for a storage room with access via a ladder you do not need council approval.
- for a living space with a fixed staircase you will need council approval.
The conversion of attic space in an existing house into a room may be carried out as complying development if the proposal meets the relevant standards set out in the State Policy.
All attic rooms must be contained within the existing roof space and the pitch of the existing roof cannot be changed.
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