Renovating under Strata, What you need to know.

In South Australia, you are able to make any improvements on the inside of your property provided it doesn’t impinge on any load bearing walls or change any of the structure facing out in to the common property such as windows and front doors.

BUT…

If you are looking at making a few improvements to your strata titled property there are a few things you should do first.

Everything you want to do in an apartment building will affect someone else directly or indirectly which makes things a little harder.  Here’s what you should be doing to keep the peace.

Check the paperwork.

Make sure you go through the by-laws resolutions and the articles and see what is and what isn’t allowed and how it should be done.  Just because it says no in the resolutions doesn’t mean it’s always 100% firm, there is always a chance that the owners corporation will make an exception should you have everything planned out to a T.

Have a bit of a chat.

Talk to your neighbours and the people that will be directly affected by your plans, discuss your plans, talk about the time it will take, what sort of tradies will be going up and down the stairs or lifts, the noise that will be made etc.  anything that could be a problem for anyone around you.

Plan.

Plan it all out, have everything written out, planned and laid out so that when you do go and talk to your neighbours they can see exactly what is going to be happening it will also make it easier for the owners corporation to see what is going to be happening and give you a leg up when you bring it up at a meeting.

Approach the Owners Corporation.

Once you have it all planned out, have had a chat with your neighbours and the people directly affected it’s time to head over to the owner’s corporation and get them on board.  Just incase there are any issues that need to be settled, such as power and water being turned off for a period of time, or whether the common property will be taken up with trades vehicles, materials being taken up the stairs or lifts etc.

Plan for accidents.

With any type of works being undertaken there is the chance that something could happen out of the ordinary and cause damage to someone else’s property or the common property.  Always ask if there’s any type of insurance or whether there’s something that could be added in to a quote that would make the tradies liable for any damages.  It’s a long shot but it’s worth asking about.

Take it to a meeting.

If there’s anything that you do need to do that directly contravenes a by-law or you need to do something on the common property you’ll need to take it to a meeting and get official approval by the Corporation, having done all of these steps above will greatly increase your chances of being successful but know it’s not going to be 100%, if it has the chance to decrease the value or negatively affect the apartments around you there is a high possibility that the decision will not be ratified by the majority needed.

At the end of the day, it’s your property and you can do anything that you like on the inside and most of it is just courtesy to those around you, if there’s anything that might impinge on common property it’s always necessary to ask and if you need to have it voted upon then that’s what will have to happen.  Always check the Corporation’s By-Laws/Resolutions and discuss any relevant information with your neighbours and your renovations should go ahead free from stress.