newb

If a child is hit by a car that would be really tragic and horrible for everyone. That is why there is a by law about not allowing unsupervised children in hazardous areas, eg. Where vehicles are moving around. It’s not just insurance questions. What if a child is seriously injured or killed? Both the family and the person who hit them would be damaged. I (lay person) read the by law as obviously hazardous areas are not play areas and adults should walk their children through eg. When coming home, parking and moving to your home. Strata tends to be medium to high density areas, ie. With traffic. There is also the issue of damaging people’s cars if throwing balls or riding bikes.

In my block people complain about kids playing in the car park or being unsupervised (usually because of the noise which can be irritating if they’re running up and down stairs for example). I usually like the sound of children and feel for the kids.  (I grew up in a rural area with plenty of area to roam and frolic). Our strata has a park nearby but parents don’t always take their kids out or supervise them.

We installed a safety mirror so cars can see around the corner and it’s a little bit safer. We could try a speed limit sign or slowing devices as someone else suggested. Signs warning to look out for children could help too. We might even get our driveway gate fixed. There’s not really room for a play area on the property.

So, to answer the question, as others have said, no it’s not discriminatory. It’s about looking after the interests of everyone in the building.

I think it’s in the Home Building Act 1989 Schedule 1 definitions of residential building work, specialist work, and plumbing and drainage work and in the Home Building Regulation 5 Thresholds for contract requirements. I started investigating. Still not sure that waterproofing under $5000 is exempt though, as it still may be specialist work.

Not easy or practical to work out what’s lawful and how to maintain your building on a budget. But fun if you enjoy that kind of thing.

Hi Sujenna,

I imagine with only 2 owners and 2 townhouses it would be fairly easy as long as the other person is cooperative. If they’re not, or refuse to pay levies it could become difficult. Or if you’re not good at budgeting and record keeping.

How much shared property is there? Driveway/ plumbing/ roof/ walls/ electrical? You need to see the plan drawings.

The main things will be –

1. Hold a meeting with the other owner with a motion to move to self management. Minute this and both sign it.

2. Inform the strata manager and give any required notice and/ or pay exit fee.

3. Set up a business transaction account with both owners as co signatories to keep trust funds – you’ll probably both need to go into the bank with the original signed minutes and your ID.

4. If insurance is due for renewal – Organise insurance – I recommend contacting Strata Fair brokers – they are very helpful and will save you money.

5. Inform utility companies of change in where to send the bills

6. Pick up your records/owners seal from the strata manager.

7. You may want to store your records using dropbox, Strata box, or Our Body Corp. The last 2 have more options to help with managing your strata. It’s also good to set up an email specific to your strata plan. This way all your records are backed up on the cloud.

8. Hold a meeting and elect a Chair, Secretary and Treasurer. Decide who will do what re record keeping, reporting, how much levies, issuing levy notices, organising contractors etc.

9. If there’s a current gardener/ cleaner – contact them about continuing arrangements.

10. Ongoing keeping accurate records in an organised and timely manner.

11. Create quarterly and annual financial reports (at minimum bank statement, matching list of income and expenditure items, and matching receipts) and an Annual budget.

12. Update details on strata hub, then Annual Reporting on strata hub.

13. Annual tax return/ report – very basic

14. Have at least one meeting a year and minute it.

15. Get quotes and contractors when needed (make sure they are licensed and insured) and supervise works and pay them.

16. Most important –  be able to work cooperatively with the other owner to maintain shared property.

17. Familiarise your self with the strata schemes management act and regulations, and read up on the service nsw living in strata information pages

It doesn’t matter if you don’t do everything perfectly – you’ll learn and get better as you go. The main thing is that you can get along and agree with your neighbour about how you will manage and pay for things, and keeping records of this.

Definitely get a strata report – see how long the current contract is for and what the ending the contract terms are, as well as how much is in the sinking fund and what any issues have been.

Check the lot entitlements, are they equal or one higher than the other? – with only 2 owners you can get a stalemate. The one with higher lot entitlements would win every poll vote if it came to that.

I’d speak to the other owner and see what they are like and what they think. This is the main thing – how open they are to self managing, how much work/ time they’re willing/ able to put in, if they’ll pay levies and be responsible without needing a strata manager parent, if what you both want is compatible and can work – eg. Similar vision and priorities in how you want to manage your property.

If you decide to get a new strata manager, take your time and research them – check their standard contract and how clear it is about what is included and what is extra. Insist that monthly bank statements are provided as a contract term. Have a look at some of the properties they manage.

Some strata managers offer levels of service – eg collecting levies, paying bills, record keeping, budgeting, insurance arrangement included, and anything else like arranging contractors, answering queries is extra billed per item. You could choose something like this.

I hope this helps. Good luck 🙂

@Court also check this page from Bannermans, which explains that any owner has right to owners records, and owners don’t even need to make a section 182 request (so shouldn’t have to pay, but a fee may be charged for preparing documents for inspection):

https://www.bannermans.com.au/articles/strata-and-development/216-owners-corporations-getting-access-to-your-records

“There seems to be a common misconception that an owners corporation requires permission from its strata managing agent to access the strata roll and other records maintained for it by its agent. That access is often denied, frequently citing privacy law concerns. This is a misconception, because these are the owners corporation’s own records and it is entitled to them under various legal principles.”

“An inspection under Section 182 of the SSMA is not required. That is a procedure available to third parties, e.g. lot owners and is not required by an owners corporation, which is after all seeking access to its own documents, for which it requires no authority.
The privacy laws do not prevent an agent from disclosing, to its principal, information collected or held on behalf of its principal. In fact, the privacy legislation permits personal information to be collected, held, used or disclosed if required or authorised by law. The collection/access in issue is required by various provisions of the (“SSMA”). In other words, there is no sound basis for an agent to claim privacy concerns as a basis for withholding access.”