MAINTAIN AND REPAIR: WHY YOU AND YOUR OWNERS CORPORATION SHOULD NOT RELY ON INSURANCE ALONE TO PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY Owners Corporations in Melbourne have been warned that having building insurance is not an excuse to neglect your building’s most important assets. Often, owners attend Annual General Meetings and question costs of maintenance and servicing, particularly with insurance there to cover any breakdowns of assets. However, CHU Strata Insurance Business Development Manager Scott Allen ...

Insuring your property is one of your Owners Corporation’s non-negotiables. It simply has to be done as per the Owners Corporation Act VIC 2006. However, some customers may have noticed that premiums for cover have been rising at a steady rate recently. Strata Plan sat down with CHU Strata Insurance Business Development Manager Scott Allen to chat about the state of the strata insurance market and what is causing the rises. A PRICE ...

Your Owners Corporation and working with owners and occupants with disabilities Melbourne Owners Corporations large and small were dealt a stern warning by the Supreme Court of Victoria in late June. In the decision of Owners Corporation OC1-POS539033E v Black [2018] VSC 337, which was handed down on June 21, 2018, the Supreme Court of Victoria smashed the assumption that Owners Corporations did not have to make alterations to common property for owners ...

We often hear of the Owners Corporation’s responsibility to act in good faith on behalf of fellow owners. In fact, the Owners Corporation Act (VIC) 2006, says as much. In keeping with this, the Owners Corporation’s must also act reasonably when making decisions. But what is reasonable? Billed as one of the most significant strata cases in recent times, Ainsworth v Albrecht – which originated in Queensland – dealt with and set precedent ...

Chairpersons and their role: From the chairpeople Volunteering and being nominated as chairperson of an Owners Corporation is a big responsibility, but it's also a privilege. Your owners have elected you to look out for their best interests. Strata Plan discussed the role with one such person, Mario Gomzelj, who chairs the committee at Sandy Hill, a four-building development with over 400 apartments.  Stepping up to claim a spot on your Owners Corporation ...

What Does A Good Owners Corporation Committee Do? The Million Dollar Question. What makes a great Owners Corporation committee? That is literally the million dollar question. Your Owners Corporation is responsible for insuring, maintaining and repairing all common property at your building, as well as budgeting for, the collection of and expenditure of hundreds of thousands of dollars. In doing so, the Owners Corporation should be protecting and/or improving the value of a ...

Owners Corporations in Melbourne may be looking at their Sydney counterparts with some envy after the New South Wales government announced a raft of short stay reforms this week. The NSW government is set to impose a 180-day cap on the number of days empty properties can be rented in Sydney, as well as giving Owners Corporations the power to ban Airbnb in their buildings. The cap would only apply to Sydney and ...

THE DBDRV – A NEW WAY TO SOLVE BUILDING DISPUTES? In April 2017, the Domestic Building Dispute Resolution Victoria (DBDRV) was established by the Victorian government. A business unit of the Department of Justice and Regulation, the DBDRV was established as an independent government agency to assist with the resolution of domestic building disputes. The service is free to building owners – such as an Owners Corporation - and builders and acts as ...

WHERE THERE’S A WILL, THERE’S A WAY | HELPING AN OWNERS CORPORATION MANAGE AND RECTIFY BUILDING DEFECTS Strata Plan believes that Owners Corporations work best when owners take an active interest in their property and work collaboratively with all stakeholders to co-create amazing outcomes. And when it comes to amazing outcomes, it does not get much better than having $100,000s worth of building defect rectification for mere $1,000s. For some property owners, this ...

Energy Efficiency: How does your Owners Corporation and Building Stack Up? Ever wondered how your building compares to others out there? Soon, you will be able to do just that. The NABERS program has been around for 20 years, benchmarking the energy efficiency of commercial properties by measuring their consumption and expenditure and now the rating tool is coming to residential buildings and your Owners Corporation. If you’ve ever pondered why some building ...

Identifying Defects When it comes to suspected building defects, it’s important to know all the facts. Defects are an emotional topic for property owners – however it is often a topic that is rife with misinformation, opinions and competing interests. This can make the process of defect rectification a painstakingly long one. The typical defect process can take over a year to resolve and cost 10s of thousands of dollars to finish. To ...

Building Defects: A community issue Building defects are a community issue. They take a team of committed and united lot owners to co-create solutions and forge a successful path to rectification. Factions of fractured owners with different goals and agendas will never get their building’s issues sorted. Your Owners Corporation is the body that enables all owners to work together to solve the issues that affect the entire community within a building - ...