This article discusses ground floor owners lift maintenance levies and why all owners generally contribute to shared facility costs.
Question: Why do owners on the ground floor of our building need to contribute to the facilities such as lift, which they do not use?
Do ground floor apartments contribute to the sinking fund for lifts? If certain properties do not or cannot access common facilities are these factored into sinking fund contributions, or is it just a per square metre calculation?
Answer: Unless there is a split budget, all owners contribute to all the expenses of the owners corporation.
Unless there is a split budget, all owners contribute to all the expenses of the owners corporation. This includes ground floor units contributing to lift maintenance even though they may rarely use these facilities.
In order to move away from a standard administrative and sinking fund into the territory of a split budget an Alternate Rule would need to be adopted. This would set out criteria and formula by which the budget is separated. Under the new legislation, this can be done by way of a special resolution as opposed to an unopposed resolution as was required prior to November 2020.
This post appears in Strata News #537.
Nina Cannell
Signature Strata
E: nina@signaturestrata.com.au
P: 02 6185 0347
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