To assist strata communities stay on top of essential repairs and maintenance to their building’s common property, Fair Trading recently launched a Strata Building Health Check.
The Strata Health Check provides a simple way for strata communities to assess how well their owners corporation is meeting its legal obligations to maintain common property.
It helps owners and committees:
- Raise and track repair requests
- Plan for upcoming repairs and maintenance
- Schedule regular building valuations to make sure insurance cover is adequate
Angus Abadee is the Strata and Property Services Commissioner.
“Undertaking maintenance and responding in a timely manner to repairs to common property helps manage risks and prevent damage to individual lots,” said Angus Abadee.
“There are over 87,000 strata schemes in the state and disputes over repairs have more impact than any other type of strata dispute in terms of strata residents’ finances, safety, amenity and well-being. Leaving maintenance and repair issues unaddressed also reduces property values and pushes up insurance costs in affected buildings.”
Under NSW law, owners corporations are legally required to maintain common property. Ignoring or delaying repairs can lead to bigger problems and more expensive remedial works down the track.
The Health Check contains six questions to answer from the process to reporting repairs, and understanding how much money is available for capital works. There are also questions on insurance cover, hiring licenced tradespeople and reviewing the 10-year capital works plan.
If, as an owner, you don’t answer “yes” to all questions, then the next step is to reach out to the Strata Committee to seek guidance.
According to NSW Fair Trading, neglecting repairs can have a direct impact on insurance.
“This includes:
- increasing the cost of insurance paid by all owners through their levies
- decreasing the coverage your insurer will provide – they often won’t cover problems caused by a lack of repairs and maintenance
- increased excess to be paid, as insurance companies will impose higher excess amounts (such as for water damage claims)
- less choice in insurance provider or inability to obtain cover at all, as insurance companies may decline to insure your building without ongoing repairs and maintenance.”
In 2024, NSW Fair Trading received more than 500 complaints related to strata issues. Interestingly, 22% of these were about repairs and maintenance – from plumbing and sewerage problems to water leaks.
For more information on maintaining your property, please contact your Strata Manager at Netstrata.
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