Who can give approval for major internal lot renovations?

Victorian Strata Law is far from my area of expertise but I would think there are three things that apply here.

1.  Your by-laws – what do they say about renovations in general and removing or changing common property?

2.  What do the strata laws say?

3.  What do local council by-laws say?

Have a look at this document HERE. It’s an article on this very topic in Australian Property Investor magazine. It’s a bit general but it does say this: “Before renovating your apartment you should realistically assume you require approval of the OC and, possibly, local council.”

A glance at Victorian legislation suggests that significant alterations affecting common property would require a special resolution, rather than just a simple approval.

Maybe one of our Vic-minded readers has more on this.

Austman & Jimmy,

In NSW S116 of the act covers off owners requirements to a degree, as to what they need to do before altering any internal walls. This involves getting engineering advice that the walls are non structural and giving notice of proposed works 14 days prior.

Most OC’s will have introduced a works by-law that governs the process and responsibilities for renovations and there are a couple of good ones floating around.

The situation described above is pretty ordinary.

Mr Strata

And this is what it says in the NSW Strata Act:

Part 1 Responsibilities of owners, occupiers and other persons relating to lots

116   Owners, occupiers and other persons not to interfere with structure of lot or services to lot

(1)  An owner, mortgagee or covenant chargee in possession (whether in person or not), lessee or occupier of a lot must not do anything or permit anything to be done on or in relation to that lot so that:

(a)  any support or shelter provided by that lot for another lot or common property is interfered with, or

(b)  the passage or provision of water, sewage, drainage, gas, electricity, garbage, artificially heated or cooled air, heating oil and other services (including telephone, radio and television services) through or by means of any pipes, wires, cables or ducts for the time being in the lot is interfered with.

(2)  The owner of a lot must not alter the structure of the lot without giving to the owners corporation, not later than 14 days before commencement of the alteration, a written notice describing the proposed alteration.

NB:  There’s no requirement for written permission, just 14 days notice.

In the Schedule 1 By-laws (which are only operative if adopted by the Owners or by default if the Owners have not adopted any by-laws):

5   Damage to common property

(1)  An owner or occupier of a lot must not mark, paint, drive nails or screws or the like into, or otherwise damage or deface, any structure that forms part of the common property without the approval in writing of the owners corporation.

they go on to say …

(3)  This by-law does not prevent an owner or person authorised by an owner from installing:

(a)  any locking or other safety device for protection of the owner’s lot against intruders, or

(b)  any screen or other device to prevent entry of animals or insects on the lot, or

(c)  any structure or device to prevent harm to children.

In the NSW Model by-laws for residential strata schemes in the 2010 Regulations (which are also not in force unless adopted by the Owners Corporation), there’s an additional sub-clause that allows some work:

(d) any device used to affix decorative items to the internal surfaces of walls in the owner’s lot, unless the device is likely to affect the operation of fire safety devices in the lot or to reduce the level of safety in the lots or common property.

And then, of course, there are the individual by-laws for each strata plan which can cover things like how and when you can do noisy work, how to get materials in and rubble out and, as we never tire of telling you all, differ from building to building.

I would think your local council's planning department might also want to have a look, given that there are structural changes involved.

That's really interesting. It must be one of those things that varies from State to State and perhaps council to council.

I just called City of Sydney planning department and they said, among other things (like heritage issues), you can't change the configuration of rooms without  council planning approval.

I'm not questioning Austman's information but it does seem strange to me that you could make structural changes to a building without any competent oversight authority's approval.

My advice would be, check with your local council's planning department (or risk an order to reinstate if everything goes pear-shaped).

Jimmyt wrote:

That’s really interesting. It must be one of those things that varies from State to State and perhaps council to council.I just called City of Sydney planning department and they said, among other things (like heritage issues), you can’t change the configuration of rooms without  council planning approval. I’m not questioning Austman’s information but it does seem strange to me that you could make structural changes to a building without any competent oversight authority’s approval. My advice would be, check with your local council’s planning department (or risk an order to reinstate if everything goes pear-shaped).

That advice is largely incorrect Jimmy.

You can undertake that work as complying development except if it is a heritage item.

Means you don’t have to go down the DA path and wait for 3+ months for Council to assess it – 10 day approval timeframe and then start work which is a pretty major cost saving.

The complying development process should taken into account BCA and structural issues.

Drew said:

That advice is largely incorrect Jimmy.
You can undertake that work as complying development except if it is a heritage item.

 

This just in – council forces owner to remove additional internal walls HERE