WA: Q&A What Key Scheme Documents Should the Developer Provide?

The following article is about which key scheme documents should be provided by the developer.

Table of Contents:

• QUESTION: I am the treasurer for a small strata plan of 4 units. I am looking for a new insurance quote. The insurance company has requested our valid scheme number. Where do I find this? We have always used ‘owners of strata plan xxxxx’.


• QUESTION: Our 21 unit complex was built in 2018. What are the ‘scheme key documents’ the strata company should have received from the developer? As the chairperson, how can the Council of Owners determine if the information provided by the developer fulfils obligations?

Question: I am the treasurer for a small strata plan of 4 units. I am looking for a new insurance quote. The insurance company has requested our valid scheme number. Where do I find this? We have always used ‘owners of strata plan xxxxx’.

Answer: Each strata scheme also has a unique number allocated to it by Landgate.

What’s in a name…

For some strata schemes, the developer goes to a great deal of creative effort and imagination to come up with a luxurious sounding name befitting of the hanging gardens of Babylon. Other times, the strata scheme can be unimaginatively described as “2 Smith Street Perth”.

The scheme name is shown on the front page of the “Strata Plan”, now known as the “Scheme Plan”.

Each strata scheme also has a unique number allocated to it by Landgate.

The strata scheme name and number form the identity of the strata scheme EG:

The owners of “[scheme name + scheme type + scheme number]” under section 14(2) of the Act, e.g. Pretty Ponds Strata Scheme 12345.

Whenever referring to the strata scheme (a legal entity in its own right) the full name and number must be used.

14. Strata Company

1. On registration of a strata titles scheme, a strata company is established for the strata titles scheme.


2. The name of the strata company is “The Owners of [the name of the scheme] (survey-strata scheme/strata scheme [according to the type of strata titles scheme] [the reference number allocated to the scheme by the Registrar of Titles])”.


3. The name of the strata titles scheme is the name stated in the scheme notice.


4. The address for service of the strata company is the address for service stated in the scheme notice.


5. A strata company —
   
   1. is a body corporate; and
   
   
   2. has perpetual succession; and
   
   
   3. is capable of suing and being sued in its own name; and
   
   
   4. has, subject to this Act, all the powers of a natural person that are capable of being exercised by a body corporate.


6. The governing body of a strata company is the council of the strata company.


7. A strata company may have a common seal, but it does not have to do so.


8. A strata company is comprised of the owners for the time being of the lots in the strata titles scheme (who are the members of the strata company).

Shane White Strata Title Consult E: shane.white@stratatitleconsult.com.au

This post appears in the May 2023 edition of The WA Strata Magazine.

Question: Our 21 unit complex was built in 2018. What are the ‘scheme key documents’ the strata company should have received from the developer? As the chairperson, how can the Council of Owners determine if the information provided by the developer fulfils obligations?

Answer: You can refer to the Strata Titles Act and Regulations to see what is considered a scheme key document.

You can refer to the Strata Titles Act and Regulations to see what is considered a scheme key document as below. This is the bare minimum under the legislation and would fulfil what is considered their obligations.

Key Document

3. Terms Used

• key document in relation to a subdivision of land by a strata titles scheme (including a stage of subdivision) means each of the following —
  
  1. the application for registration of the scheme or amendment of the scheme to give effect to the subdivision and everything that accompanies the application;
  
  
  2. the scheme documents, or amendments of the scheme documents, as registered for the subdivision;
  
  
  3. planning approvals for the subdivision and development associated with the scheme;
  
  
  4. occupancy permits and building approval certificates under the Building Act 2011 relating to development associated with the subdivision;
  
  
  5. official notices relating to the subdivision or development associated with the subdivision;
  
  
  6. specifications, diagrams and drawings relating to the parcel or a building on the parcel (including any specifications, diagrams and drawings that show utility conduits, utility infrastructure or sustainability infrastructure);
  
  
  7. warranty documents and operational and servicing manuals for infrastructure that ought reasonably to be given to the strata company;
  
  
  8. certificates and schedules relating to the insurance required for, or relating to, the scheme taken out or arranged by the scheme developer of the subdivision;
  
  
  9. any contracts for the provision of services or amenities to the strata company or to members of the strata company entered into or arranged by the scheme developer for the subdivision or by the strata company;
  
  
  10. any leases or licences over the common property of the scheme;
  
  
  11. accounting records and other documents that ought reasonably to be given to the strata company;
  
  
  12. anything included in this definition by the regulations;

Regulation 10

Key documents

• For the purposes of paragraph (l) of the definition of key document in section 3(1), the following are included in that definition —
  
  1. any contracts relevant to the design or construction of buildings and improvements on the parcel entered into by the scheme developer, including any variations to those contracts and all plans and specifications relating to those contracts or variations;
  
  
  2. “as constructed” plans and diagrams for buildings, improvements and utility conduits on the parcel;
  
  
  3. any infrastructure contracts or variations to infrastructure contracts;
  
  
  4. any notice of completion given under the Building Act 2011 section 33 in relation to —
     
     
     1. any scheme building in a strata scheme; or
     
     
     2. any infrastructure located on the common property of a strata titles scheme;
  
  
  5. any documents relating to a defect or possible defect in a scheme building or infrastructure;
  
  
  6. any agreement relating to the supply of a water service (within the meaning given in the Water Services Act 2012 section 3(1)) between a licensee under that Act and any of the following parties —
     
     1. a former owner of the land comprised in the parcel;
     
     
     2. the strata company;
     
     
     3. an owner or occupier of a lot in the strata titles scheme;
  
  
  7. the 10 year plan under section 100(2A) (if that provision applies to the strata titles scheme).

Jordan Dinga Abode Strata E: abode@abodestrata.com.au P: 08 9368 2221

This post appears in the November 2021 edition of The WA Strata Magazine.

Have a question about the key scheme documents that should be provided by the developer or something to add to the article? Leave a comment below.

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Disclaimer: this article should not be relied on as legal advice.

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