WA: Q&A What Electrical Tasks are Appropriate if You’re Not an Electrician?

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These Q&A are about electrical repairs and access to common property electricity in WA strata buildings.

Table of Contents:

• QUESTION: More and more of our owners and residents are using power from the common areas. Is this use of power considered acceptable, as it is paid for by all of the owners through strata fees?
• QUESTION: Within the main switchboard, a cable behind my fuse has blown out completely. Is there a resource that will help me identify if this is the strata’s responsibility or mine?
• QUESTION: Under what circumstances is it appropriate for a nonqualified person to carry out any type of repair of electrical infrastructure on common property or an individual lot?

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Question: More and more of our owners and residents are using power from the common areas. Is this use of power considered acceptable, as it is paid for by all of the owners through strata fees?

More and more of our owners and residents are using power from the common areas.

Some of this is via power points added to the individual unit storage areas (sourced from connections to the common network) for everything from recharging bicycle batteries to running freezers. While others are using communal power points in the car park to recharge electric cars.

Is this use of power considered acceptable, as it is paid for by all of the owners through strata fees?

Also, how is it recommended that we manage allocating this additional cost to those who use this power for non-communal purposes?

Answer: What is considered acceptable is completely up to the strata council.

What is considered acceptable is completely up to the strata council and then you can act accordingly to what you think is acceptable.

If the strata company (all owners or their Council of Owners) is aware that some owners, residents or tenants are permanently using the common power supply in an inequitable manner e.g. power to the freezer, then the Strata Company would be best to review the property as a whole, issues notices to cease these activities, remove or decommission illegally installed power points and adopt a specific bylaw which outlines common power usage.

Utility services may not be on-charged to any lot owner, resident or tenant unless:

• It is billed direct by the Utility provider via metering direct eg Synergy bills Miss Smith for power direct, OR
• It is via an individual common power sub meter billed direct by the Strata Company, and the Strata Company has a by-law that authorises the on-charging of the cost of service and usage for that meter to be borne by the lot owner/ resident, tenant.

Jordan Dinga
Abode Strata
P: 08 9368 2221
E: [email protected]

This post appears in Strata News #430.

Question: Within the main switchboard, a cable behind my fuse has blown out completely. Is there a resource that will help me identify if this is the strata’s responsibility or mine?

Answer: Generally, the main switchboard is located in the common property area so I would expect this to be a strata responsibility.

Generally, the main switchboard is located in the common property area so I would expect this to be a strata responsibility.

To provide a definitive answer, a qualified electrician should inspect and provide a report. The blown cable might not be associated with the occupant’s fuse.

Greg McCulloch
Westside Fire Services
E: [email protected]
P: 08 9248 4824

This post appears in the October 2020 edition of The WA Strata Magazine.

Question: Under what circumstances is it appropriate for a nonqualified person to carry out any type of repair of electrical infrastructure on common property or an individual lot?

Answer: A non qualified person can do simple electrical maintenance tasks.

A licensed electrician must do direct electrical/wiring work. This includes items like:

• Replacing a light switch or power point
• Building your own extension lead
• Repairing an electrical appliance
• Installing a new light fitting
• Attaching a new plug to the end of a lead
• Replacing a lead on an appliance
• Installing a ceiling fan

A non qualified person can do simple electrical maintenance tasks like:

• Installing low voltage garden lighting
• Installing pond pumps
• Re-wire old style fuses
• Change out a blown light bulb
• Replace LED down-lights
• Fitting an electric wall oven but not connecting it
• Install a battery operated smoke alarm/detector

Greg McCulloch
Westside Fire Services
E: [email protected]
P: 08 9248 4824

Please note this advice was provided prior to the proclamation of the new strata title amendments and will be updated in due course.

This post appears in Strata News #328.

Have a question about electrical repairs, accessing common property electricity or something to add to the article? Leave a comment below.

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Read next:

• WA Strata Titles Amendment Act 2018: duties of a council member and how to protect yourself from liability
• WA: Maintenance Planning and Insurance: The Strata Titles Amendment Act 2018 (STAA 2018)
• WA: Q&A Requirements for Evacuation Notices and Planning for Emergencies

Visit our Maintenance and Common Property OR Strata Information WA pages.

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