strata nirvana in Newcastle, New South Wales | Professional service

strata nirvana

Locality: Newcastle, New South Wales

Phone: +61 419 832 271

Address: 139 Hill St 2294 Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Website: http://www.stratanirvana.com

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25.01.2022 The Retrospective Duty of Care explained.

20.01.2022 WHY DO I NEED APPROVAL TO RENOVATE? What do I own and what is Common Property? Having a clear understanding of your strata plan, lot and common property can explain what you own and what you share. ... Owners wanting to make changes or undertake lot renovations may be required to obtain approval or a by-law from the owners corporation if the type of works affect common property. Any renovations within a lot that involves alterations, additions, or removals such as flooring, plumbing and waterproofing, require a by-law. The picture below is a typical strata plan. This does not necessarily tell you all of the details about lot and common property. The general rule (subject to exceptions) for many strata schemes registered after 1 July 1974 is: The solid thick line on the strata plan is common property. The ceiling, the structure of the floor (including fixed tiles or floorboards), the electrical wiring located in the ceiling (multi storey apartments), external windows and balcony doors are generally all considered common property. Any internal walls not shown on the strata plan are considered lot property. Any structure located on a thin line is also usually considered lot property. A lot owner is responsible for lot property, including carpet, light fittings, blinds, curtains, toilet bowls, bath tubs and kitchen cupboards. Before undertaking any renovations it is wise to contact your strata manager for clarification as notations on the plan can modify the common property responsibilities and any by-laws, alterations, additions, or removal of common property put in place after registration of the plan.

19.01.2022 Merry Christmas & Happy New Year everyone.

13.01.2022 Buying an Apartment or Unit? Don’t buy a lemon. A Strata Nirvana Report can save you money & stress... Buying a unit, townhouse or apartment can be an affordable way to enter the property market. But before you sign the dotted line it pays to look into the history of the property and its strata scheme. Commissioning a Strata Nirvana Report before you buy can tell you almost everything you need to know about a property and its people before you are tied to it financially. A Strata Nirvana Report will ensure you do not get less than what you expect or bite off more than you can chew. If you intend to live in your unit or rent it out to tenants, you need to know what the property is like to live in, how it is being managed and whether or not your neighbours get along. If a property is unpleasant for an owner it is likely an investor will have problems retaining tenants. You’ll also want to know where the property is today and where it might be in 5-10 years. The last thing you want is for the complex to be sold out from under you, or to foot a major damage bill for water leaks. Don’t judge a building by its façade. Just like you should not judge a book by its cover, there may be issues with the building that are not apparent at first glance. A Strata Nirvana Report can reassure you that the scheme you are buying into is a nice place to live with well-maintained amenities. At worst, it may uncover fiscal mismanagement, disputes between owners, high levies or unresolved legal issues. A badly managed strata scheme can affect the re-sale value of your property, blow out your budget and your net rental return. Excessive strata management costs also have the potential to affect your ability to service your mortgage. Contact Strata Nirvana for more information on Strata Living & Investing.

13.01.2022 Good news for Pet Owners. On 12 October 2020, the NSW Court of Appeal handed down the decision of Cooper v The Owners Strata Plan No. 58068 [2020] NSWCA 250 (Cooper). The Court of Appeal overturned a previous decision of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal Appeal Panel and deemed a by-law that provided an outright ban on pet ownership was oppressive pursuant to section 139(1) of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015.... The effect of this decision is that the Court of Appeal has now set a state wide precedent that ‘no pets’ by-laws will likely be deemed oppressive and have no force or effect. As a result, this has fundamental implications for every strata scheme in New South Wales that has or is seeking to have an outright prohibition on the keeping of pets.

12.01.2022 In response to the impact of COVID-19 on strata and community schemes, the NSW Government has made temporary changes to the law to give schemes the flexibility they need to function. The regulations commenced on 5 June and will be in place for six months. Electronic voting... To provide strata and community schemes more options, all schemes can now vote and hold meetings electronically. This includes strata schemes that have not yet passed their own resolution to move to electronic means of meeting and voting. This change also helps all community schemes that haven’t previously been able to meet or vote electronically. For some owners, using technology to vote and hold meetings will be unfamiliar, so the scheme’s secretary must take reasonable steps to ensure that all owners can participate in and vote at meetings. Affixing the common seal Strata and community schemes give formal approval to documents by physically affixing the scheme’s common seal. Because of restrictions on meeting in person, this may not be practical for all schemes. Schemes are now able to sign and witness documents electronically to give formal approval instead of affixing the seal. The scheme’s representatives who sign and witness the documents will need to provide additional details to confirm their identity and relationship to the scheme. Extended time periods Schemes will now have six months before they need to decide how money spent from the capital works fund will be reimbursed to cover bills of the administrative fund. For new strata schemes, after the initial period ends, the scheme will have six months before needing to hold the first annual general m

11.01.2022 Good news On 10 June 2020 a retrospective duty of care commenced under the Design & Building Practitioners Act 2020 giving all owners who became aware of building defects losses in the 10 years before 10 June 2020 a right to sue in negligence against: * builders, * designers,... * subcontractors, * suppliers or manufacturers; and * supervisors, project managers or co-ordinators in control of the works. This retrospective duty of care is currently limited to residential buildings including cladding, but there are relevant other time limits e.g. limits under the planning laws which need to be considered. If the loss became apparent after 10 June 2020, the duty of care period reverts to the usual 6 years from awareness of the loss, but again other limitations need to be considered.

09.01.2022 Fair Trading NSW update on COVID meeting measures, capital works fund expenditures & first annual general meetings.

04.01.2022 For strata committee members