In our body corporate, we are all on individual lots and appear to own the land allocated to lots under the survey plan. We do not share common walls but have an insurance policy in common. I believe we are governed by the standard format. Can we opt out of an insurance policy in common, where each owner is responsible for their insurance, and the body corporate is responsible for common property insurance?
Our strata apartment complex upgraded the garage door remote system in 2022, and the committee is happy with the work.
Frustratingly, after numerous communications, face-to-face discussions, and a formal letter from the body corporate manager, the contractor has not submitted a tax invoice. There is also confusion around the final quotation costs for the upgrade. The contractor, who is also a lot owner, has not handed over control of the FOB code or the procedural login details for the management of the upgraded system.
Given the significant rise in strata premiums leading many owners corporations to adopt much higher excesses, should strata committees advise owners to utilise the legal liability coverage within their personal contents insurance policies when owners are responsible for damage (such as water damage) to another person's property? This would allow the affected party to be compensated.
At our last AGM, we renewed the contract of our strata managing agent. In previous years, we asked for various charges to be removed from our strata fees, such as works orders, the WHS package, etc.
This had been approved previously, but at the time of signing the contract, the strata manager was away, and these were postponed for consideration after the meeting. Some time passed, and no correspondence was sent to us saying that our request was denied for this 3-year period.
We had an AGM early this year, and none of the committee nominees were elected; therefore, we have no committee.
The AGM was held via a paper vote/pre-meeting electronic vote. There was no in-person meeting.
We provided our strata manager with a qualified request. 25% of all owners signed a document requesting the managing agent convene an Extraordinary General Meeting for a committee to be elected.
I own a lot in a 12-lot strata building in Melbourne. The building has fire safety defects, including unsealed party walls and service penetrations, which the owners agreed to repair at a shared cost based on lot liability.
During the works, we discovered that the corridor walls are built with non-compliant material and need replacing at an additional cost of $190,000. The plan of subdivision shows that these corridor walls are not common property. About half the lots contain these walls entirely, while the rest have only a small section above their entry door to repair.