In recent years, and particularly during the COVID-19 crisis, a large number of residential unit, villa and town house owners, have been undertaking a range of renovations.
Apart from painting and installing picture hooks, which do not require consent, the following renovations do require the consent of the Owners Corporation either by a majority vote or a special resolution of a general meeting and the registration of a by-law on the common property Title Deed.
Minor renovations which require the approval of a majority vote at a general meeting of owners include:
replacing kitchen cupboards and benches;
changing recessed light fittings;
installing or replacing wood or other hard floors;
installing or replacing wiring, cabling or power access points;
work involving reconfiguring internal non loadbearing walls
removing carpet to expose underlying wood or hard floors;
installing heating insulation.
Renovations which involve the use of common property air space (which includes original tiles affixed to the floor or a common wall) will require the drafting of a by-law which needs to be passed by a special resolution of a general meeting of proprietors and the approved by-law then needs to be registered on the Strata Schemes common property Title Deed.
The most common types of renovations requiring the approval of a special resolution of a general meeting and registration of a by-law includes the following:
the renovation of bathrooms;
the renovation of laundries;
the installation of sky-lights;
the installation of ceiling fans;
the installation of recessed ceiling lights (which will also require fire covers for fire compliance purposes)
the installation of air conditioning;
the installation of whirly birds;
the installation of pergolas affixed to an existing structure.
If you are considering undertaking or have already undertaken any of the above renovations which have not been approved in the correct manner, contact your Strata Manager in order to seek the correct approval at a general meeting. Bear in mind that it takes several weeks to have a by-law drafted (at the cost of the applicant) to authorise the proposed (or currently unauthorised) renovations.
Once the by-law has been passed by a special resolution of a general meeting (which takes three 3 weeks to arrange for a valid meeting to be convened) the by-law must then be registered on the common property Title Deed within six months of the resolution being passed in order to be valid.
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