Question: There isn’t sufficient lighting in the garage and common areas of our old building. Is the owners corporation required to improve this for the health and safety of residents?
Our building was built in 1963. Five garages don’t have any electricity. There isn’t sufficient lighting on the driveway and the common area between the garage and the front entry. I often don’t feel safe.
Is it reasonable to request that the owners corporation:
- connect electricity to our garage so we can see and
- improve the light in the common area
Is there any standard, regulation or legislation in NSW regarding electricity access or lighting for health and safety purposes?
Answer: The strata scheme would need to pursue a voluntary decision to implement lighting in the area.
We get this question quite a lot from owners or tenants with a bit of an axe to grind or a personal agenda.
It’s understandable that they would like lighting from the parking area to the door of their unit, but there are no clear mandatory references that support this requirement.
When the complex was constructed, if the buildings passed with no electricity in the garages, there is no retrospective requirement to change this.
From a WHS point of view, lighting can be a recommendation for traversing the common property at night, but it is very subjective, and no one can easily come in and determine how much lighting makes an environment safe vs the annoyance to nearby bedroom windows etc.
Unfortunately, I’m sorry there is no real useful answer for this query. The strata scheme would simply need to pursue a voluntary decision to implement lighting in the area.
This post appears in Strata News #651.
Dakota Panetta
Solutions in Engineering
E: dakotap@solutionsinengineering.com
P: 1300 136 036
Can vehicles have their lights on high been going and coming from a block of units driveway at night at the taxi service is doing this and waking me upAnd I know some vehicles are going up the driveway to fast can you tell me a day
HI,
My neighboring block of apartments (seperate strata) recently had installed a new light fixture for the sole purpose of deterring theft of their vehicle.
The light fixture shines directly into my unit causing a nuisance to other units aswell.
A simple fix would be to install a sensor but they would prefer to leave the light on all night.
What are the Aus standards and my legal rights surrounding this issue?
We are a complex of five townhouses in Brisbane,Queensland. Our lighting goes off at 10pm at night, leaving our complex in darkness until dawn. I am concerned if someone has a fall coming into our complex when the lighting is turned offafter 10pm. The area to the car park dips down and I know someone has hada stumble in that area. I have mentioned about this to others who don’t seem bothered. They want the lights off after 10 pm. Who would be responsible and be liable if there were an accident and would this be Body Corporate Owners due to lighting being turned off after 10pm. I haven’t been able to get information from our Insurance Company whom I have emailed and rang with no reply. With thanks for any information. Doris Bramwell.
Hi Doris
Thank you for your email. The reason why an insurer will not respond to your question of legal liability is they simply can not.
Liability claims are considered on a case by case scenario AFTER THE EVENT by insurers, solicitors & judges (if the claim ends up in court) and for this reason it is not possible to give a “one size fits all” answer to a hypothetical scenario as there can be number of factors that can determine who is or is not responsible.
Notwithstanding if the Body Corporate have decided to turn the lights off after 10pm and they believe doing so is a reasonable risk management practice – if there is a claim and one of the arguments for negligence is the lighting, the Public Liability section of a strata policy policy is designed to respond to such claims against the body corporate, subject to the terms, conditions & exclusions of the policy.
I trust this assists.
Tyrone Shandiman
tshandiman@iaa.net.au
1300 554 165
Strata Insurance Solutions
http://www.stratainsurancesolutions.com.au
This information is of a general nature only and neither represents nor is intended to be personal advice on any particular matter. Shandit Pty Ltd T/as Strata Insurance Solutions strongly suggests that no person should act specifically on the basis of the information in this document, but should obtain appropriate professional advice based on their own personal circumstances and the specific coverage afforded under their policy wording. Shandit Pty Ltd T/As Strata Insurance Solutions is a Corporate Authorised Representative (No. 404246) of Insurance Advisernet Australia AFSL No 240549, ABN 15 003 886 687.
A general question about strata buildings and compliance with Australian standards – do body corporates only have to comply with whatever standards applied when the building was built or do they have to comply with current standards?
Hi Annette
We have received the following from Tracey Wyber, Trackie Industries:
When it comes to lighting it is about the safety of the occupants and their visitors so it is important to comply with current standards for lighting levels. When conducting an LED upgrade you must comply with not only the lighting output standard but also electrical safety standards like residual current devices on lighting circuits.
Hello, who can be held responsible for accidents and injuries sustained as a result of car park entrances not complying? The body corporate committee, the building manager or the body corporate manager? What ANZ standards, apart from the lighting issue you mentioned above, must body corporates comply with?
I am renting in a circa 1996 large, high rise apartment block in Brisbane and my car was damaged when the heavy basement carpark garage door came down on my vehicle.
The only anti-entrapment measure in operation, was the reversing of the door when it came into contact with my vehicle’s roof. Unfortunately, once in reverse mode, the garage door captured my SUV’s roof racks and partially dislodged them from my vehicle.
Two other entrapment measures are installed but are definitely not operating ie. a pair of sensor beams fitted either side of the garage opening and a flashing/beeping siren fitted on the exterior side, above the garage door opening. I have been told that the siren has not worked for a long time and it appears that the sensor beams may have been deliberately switched off.
.
This is an extremely difficult car park to exit from, the lighting is poor, the fob swipe is situated on the far right hand side, which means that entering and exiting traffic has to switch sides. Further complicating the arrangement is the location of 4 visitors car spaces, two each side, located immediately on the other side of the garage door and just before the exterior boom gates. In the short time that I have been there, I have almost been backed into twice as drivers that have parked nose-in cannot easily see that the garage door is about to open. An operating flashing/beeping light is imperative here.
The body corporate has not responded to my concerns about the safety issues, instead fobbing me off to their insurer who offered the following advice:… “We have reviewed your comments regarding our garage doors compliance with building codes. Noting that a building is only required to comply with building codes applicable at the time the building is constructed – we are of the view the door is operational in accordance with the building codes”.
Hi Nikki I have been in communication with the BCCM countless times and have lodged another Form 15 with them over a month ago that is still awaiting case management. Meanwhile nothing changes. I find the BCCM does not follow up once an adjudication has been made and the body corporate simply calls a meeting and the weight of the other four owners votes overturns any compliance issues moving forward. Then we start the process again of paying to lodge a Form 15 and await the outcome. It really is very frustrating being part of this self managed strata scheme. Thanks Di
Hi Di,
I have just emailed you some facts and statistics regarding carpark compliance. Have a look and if more information is required, I’m happy to help.
Regards,
Tracey
Hi Tracey thanks for your response. The complex is on the central coast in Queensland of only 5 lots. The scheme is and has never been compliant as we do not have a sinking fund forecast. The problem I have is that the self managed committee refuses to spend any money. At every AGM I submit motions for exactly this type of thing, but the motions never pass, as the other four lot owners are apparently friends and also share the same view as the 2 committee members about not spending any money. I am at my wits end in regard to maintenance and safety at the complex as sadly for us, the property is deteriorating rapidly, and with it the value of our investment. We live interstate but thankfully have a very proactive property manager. Hope this helps? Cheers Di
Hi Di
Thanks Tracey! We’ve also received this comment from Todd Garsden, Hynes Legal about the committee’s statutory obligations:
The body corporate has a number of statutory obligations that it must comply with irrespective of the cost of the compliance. This extends to maintenance and sinking fund forecasts. If the body corporate refuses to meet these obligations, the owner could make an application in the Commissioner’s Office seeking an order that the body corporate does certain acts to meets those obligations.
Hi Di,
Thankyou for commenting and one solar light certainly does not sound like it would provide sufficient lighting. Can I ask which state you live in? We have people who can help in Sydney, Melbourne and QLD. If not one of those states, I can send you some compliance information once I know a little more about the site.
Regards,
Tracey
This is very interesting as I believe the lighting in our complex is not sufficient only one solar light. However the committee is not interested in hearing anything about it. I have tried to find ways to have this assessed, only to hit a brick wall. Any companies that come out to check on safety issues only do so during the day and therefore cannot check the lighting. What options can we undertake?