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After years and years of grief over the installation of new windows we are finally getting close. The paperwork is through and we are waiting on the SM to share the quotes with the owners (which she has had for over a month). The price is very likely to be huge so we were wondering if we could create a by law that says that all east facing living rooms and bedrooms will be paid individually by the lot owner at the time of installation. The cost will be the same for each owner as all lots are identical in size and by doing it this way it is fair and equitable rather than by unit entitlement over a period of many years. For investors this means they can up the rent when their unit is done and the others don’t have to dig into their pocket until it is time for theirs to be done. Is this concept legal? thanks.
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Basically NO
Repairs to comon property must be based on unit entitlement, it is a fundamental concept of Strata. Otherwise why should a ground floor owner contribute to the repair of the penthouse roof.
It dosn’t matter who the main beneficary is the whole strata has to contribute.
Well you could create a bylaw that gives exclusive use of the said windows to each lot and make them responsible for it’s maintenance.
BUT everyone would have to agree to this (without exception) and sign a document to this effect and you would need to get a soliitor to write a bylaw to cover this.
From then on the said windows would be entirely the lot owners responsibility (for ever) and if they leaked and caused damage to other units that lot owner would be liable (not the strata). In apartments this is risky in townhouses more acceptable.
It sounds like you want to do it so each owner pays for their window replacement as and when it happens, on the basis that it is the same number of windows and those windows are the same size and will all cost the same per lot.
Yes I think you can, and I don’t believe you need a by-law. A scheme where a friend of mine lives did a similar thing when they had to replace their ceilings.
What you need to do is get all the owners to agree to pay the cost of the relevant window replacement for their lot, but on the basis that the windows remain common property (which is what I would assume you want).
You would do that by entering into an agreement signed by all the owners, expressed as binding the owners and any successors in title. In essence what you are doing is agreeing to a variation of the usual section 62 obligation, on a one-off basis. I think that the agreement would have to be executed as a deed. You would be best to get a lawyer to draft it, because this is not legal advice.
scotlandx said
Yes I think you can, and I don’t believe you need a by-law. A scheme where a friend of mine lives did a similar thing when they had to replace their ceilings.
What you need to do is get all the owners to agree to pay the cost of the relevant window replacement for their lot, but on the basis that the windows remain common property (which is what I would assume you want).
You would do that by entering into an agreement signed by all the owners, expressed as binding the owners and any successors in title. In essence what you are doing is agreeing to a variation of the usual section 62 obligation, on a one-off basis. I think that the agreement would have to be executed as a deed. You would be best to get a lawyer to draft it, because this is not legal advice.
This sounds to me a lot like a by-law? If everyone agrees and you want it binding moving forward, then why not just pass a by-law?
Because:
– it’s a one-off, once the windows are done and paid for, there is no need for anything else to be on the records
– the only element you want binding here is the owners being responsible for payment of the relevant windows
– I have assumed that the OC would continue to be responsible for the windows going forward, as per section 62
– the reason the agreement would bind successors is to provide for any sale/transfer of properties before all the windows are done, and someone saying it doesn’t apply to them apropos payment
– what’s the point of having a by-law, once all the windows are done and paid for? You wouldn’t need it then, would you?
@newlsie said:
Thanks, But what if the owners want to do this – to be fair to each other as the ground floor flat is exactly the same size and cost as the top floor. Can they vote to create a by law to do this?What is fairer than following the rules that were in place and known by each Owner when they bought their strata property – that the cost of common property repairs would be shared according to UEs?
Extra questions:
1) How much variation is there in UEs given that “all lots are identical in size”?
2) Does every lot have an “east window” or is this a staggered installation?
3) If the installation is staggered, then any special levy could be staggered. All lots could pay their UE-based share for the “east windows”, next quarter all lots could pay their UE-based share for the “west windows”. This would actually spread the financial burden over time better than each lot paying for their own windows in full when they get them.
Yes, Kangaroo is right. It occurred to me yesterday that the other way of doing it is when you strike the special levy do so with a payment schedule according to the timing of the works, so that each owner pays their share according to unit entitlement at that time.
So the schedule would set out the amount payable by each lot and the date on which it is payable.
The biggest problem you are going to have no matter which way you go about allowing everyone to pay themselves is that every owner has to agree (in writing) and if they don’t those that pay themselves might find themselves paying for the replacement windows of those that refused to sign up or did nothing.
This will be very difficult to organise how you want to.
I agree with K-roo here.
There is nothing fairer than common property repairs being paid for by the owners corporation.
Other issues that come to mind if the works are carried out individually by owners;
- it will likely be less cost effective (per window) to have them done piecemeal rather than all at once.
- if owners engaged their own tradesmen individually the likelihood of having a uniform appearance across the building will be low.
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