Repairs, improvements, renovations & extensions

This is one of the most important sections on this site. There are different types of renovations, they can be summarised briefly as follows:

Repair works

What are repairs? Repairs are all of the things needed to "repair" and "maintain" a strata property. In some cases repairs are the responsibility of the owner, in other cases repairs are the responsibility of the owners corporation. The distinction is fairly important.

• For owners, repairs are usually simple to manage, the owner seeks permission which is quite simple, the owner then makes the necessary arrangements, the repairs occur and then the owner pays the bill.

• For strata repairs, the strata administrative procedures are detailed elsewhere on this site, but the Act is designed in such a way that "repair and maintenance" can be managed at the lowest possible level with a minimum of fuss. All that is required is an ordinary motion. Indeed, repair and maintenance is usually delegated to the strata managing agent or the executive committee to manage. But manage they must! In some cases "repairs" might actually mean building something new if it is required.

Strata Renovations has summarised much of the important information relating to strata repairs here.

Improvement works

Improvements works are legally differentiated to strata works. In essence, repairs only require an ordinary motion or in other words 51% of the vote, but improvementes require a special resolution with 75% of the votes in favour of the improvement. Again the distinction is important between improvements to the strata building and improvements to an apartment:

• For a strata building, the owners corporation needs to meet and decide what type of improvements are required. For example this might be a new BBQ (if there was not one already), a new pool on common property etc.
• For an apartment, an improvement work might be a new window, a larger window, removing a wall to create an open-plan area or perhaps remodelling a kitchen or bathroom area. For the owner of an apartment, an improvement work will usually require a by-law to be passed. This requires a special resolution with 75% of the votes in favour of the improvement.

Strata Renovations has summarised much of the important information relating to strata improvement works here.

Extension works

Finally extensions are a class in itself. What is an extension?

If you are extending you will need a Motion (or more than one) for such things as the following:

By definition, because an extension goes beyond the cubic space of your lot, you will also need a by-law. This will need to cover the following:

Strata Renovations has summarised much of the important information relating to strata extension works here.

Renovation works

Renovations is not a universally used expression in the strata world, but our definition of a renovation is a works programme that includes both repairs, improvements, and in some cases extension works. This is our definition at Strata Renovations and is not necessarily universally adopted but renovations is our description of both repairs as well as improvements. The reality however is that this happens all of the time in strata.

Strata Renovations has summarised much of the important information relating to strata renovation works here.