As a strata manager, you know just how much work goes into the daily running of a strata scheme. Just keeping up with the daily details can seem like an insurmountable task; when you add in the necessary ongoing strata maintenance and repairs a property requires, it can be almost overwhelming. Fortunately, there are ways to approach strata maintenance more effectively making it easier on you to keep the entire building in peak condition.
Managing Strata Maintenance and Repairs
After speaking with many Strata Managers, Houspect has heard that one of the most common sources of uncertainty for strata owners and managers alike is simply determining who should pay for particular repairs. On the surface, it’s quite simple: all common property is the responsibility of the owners corporation, while damages or issues within the airspace of a particular lot is the responsibility of the individual owner. Complications tend to arise not as a result of confusion over who is responsible for common areas vs. individual ones, but what spaces are considered common property in the first place.
The owners corporation, or a strata manager hired to act on behalf of the corporation, is responsible not only for the financial obligations related to common-area repairs, but also coordinating those repairs and preventing damage through routine maintenance. To avoid special levies and depletion of the sinking fund, it’s always advised that owners corporations and managers see to any necessary repairs when they appear, rather than allowing issues to worsen through neglect. Because some problems aren’t immediately obvious to the untrained eye, this is where routine inspections and evaluations by a professional can be of great assistance.
Working with Professionals to Ensure Ongoing Strata Maintenance
No matter how proactive you are as a manager or part of an owners corporation, there will inevitably be a problem you can’t see or fail to detect. Often, these are the issues with the greatest potential to become expensive and disruptive ones to address.
Working with a professional building inspection company staffed with inspectors who have a wealth of strata inspection experience can be one of the best and most effective ways of managing not only the sinking fund, but the entire strata scheme maintenance plan efficiently. A registered builder who is an experienced building inspector will know where to look for problems in common areas, and how to best address them before issues spiral out of control. Because they provide no repairs or mitigation services themselves, you also never have to worry about the potential for a conflict of interest colouring the results of their report. This isn’t always the case when you call in repair professionals and contractors. Protect your sinking fund, your strata scheme and your future by investing in professional building inspections for common areas of your strata scheme. Your inspector can help you to determine which repairs are the responsibility of the owners corporation, which should be handled by an individual owner and how to proceed in the best interest of all involved parties.
Houspect Building Inspections– Buy, Build, Invest and Sell with Confidence
08 9240 8855
info.wa@houspectwa.com.au
