This article discusses strata balcony maintenance responsibility planning and how the strata plan determines who pays for balcony repairs in a 10-year plan.
Question: Who is responsible for the maintenance and repairs of balconies? We are preparing our next 10 year Maintenance Schedule and we need to know if balconies will be included in the report.
How can we tell who is responsible for the maintenance and repairs of balconies? I have read somewhere that even if a balcony is classed as exclusive use, the strata are still responsible for its repairs.
It is my belief that it is in fact strata responsibility.
I need to confirm this as we are preparing our next 10 year Maintenance Schedule, and the balconies will all be inspected and included in the report. However, we need to determine whether the costs go into the strata budget in the relevant year, or are wholly, or partly the responsibility of the owners.
Answer: Legally, the maintenance and repair of balconies will be maintained as dictated by the Strata Plan.
Who is responsible for the maintenance and repairs of balconies?
As with most things strata, there is a legal opinion and a practical opinion – sometimes the two come together! Legally, the maintenance and repair of balconies will be maintained as dictated by the Strata Plan. In most cases, the finish of a balcony is to be maintained by the Strata Company as it was at the time of the creation of the strata.
In a practical sense, though, what happens if you are having a BBQ and one of your guests drops a bottle of bubbly and a tile is broken beyond repair and you want it fixed now… who judges when is a suitable time for the repairs? We see that all Owners need to take a deep breath and project themselves forward in time to gain a bit of perspective over who is responsible and when is it to be done. Over time there will be an accumulation of funds to carry out eventual replacement of all the tiles on the balcony – let’s say the maintenance plan budgets on replacement of balcony in 25 years. If an Owner in year 10 of the maintenance plan has a desire to have the balcony refurbished (after 20 bottles of bubbly have dropped!), then the approach of the COO should be that if the Owners contribute 10 years of contributions, the owner can contribute the remaining 15 years of contributions to speed up the process. The process of maintenance would still have to be administered by the COO, to maintain control over the finished colour, noise attenuation, balcony safety etc, but we see a 10-year plan as a living, breathing document to be used regularly – not just as a compliance box to be ticked.
Are COO’s opening themselves up to liability by preparing their own 10-year maintenance plans?
Should COOs be preparing their own 10 yr maintenance plan? The designated strata company is the entity responsible for issuing a 10-year maintenance plan for a particular complex. We see the opportunity for liability for the COO is both in
- Not taking expert advice when preparing the plan, and
- Not implementing expert advice that is given.
A true 10-year plan is a combination of review and input from a building inspector who has thoroughly inspected the property, various services contractors who currently work on the property and owners/residents who use the property on a daily basis – all pulled together by the Council of Owners to reflect the needs and aspirations of the Owners.
In some cases, a document prepared by a consultant can be rubber-stamped by the COO as ‘the plan’. But In most instances, there needs to be far more of a round-table approach to really get a meaningful 10-year maintenance document.
This post appears in the July 2021 edition of The WA Strata Magazine.
Andrew Booth
ABBC Building Inspectors
E: andrew@abbc.net.au
P: 08 9200 4200
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