Strata designed to protect the value of your investment
While Strata may seem like a dirty word, especially when owners don’t perceive any benefit for the fees that they pay, the purpose of a strata corporation is to maintain the common property for the benefit of all.
In stand-alone homes it can be difficult to see the value in strata but properties have had adjoining walls for over a century and where these are Torrens Titled rather than strata issues arise to the detriment of the property as per these cottages in the city where the owners have taken an odd approach to maintenance:
The advantage of a Strata Corporation is that the maintenance of the roof, gutters, fascias and the painting is the responsibility of the corporation and should then be arranged at the same time. How much nicer would these cottages look if they had been painted sympathetically and had the same level of maintenance carried out?
From time to time corporations vote to attack large maintenance jobs in a piecemeal fashion which is almost always done as a result of a funds shortage. While it is best that the works on the property are carried out as a whole to ensure the consistency of appearance and the value of the properties for all owners in some corporations it is good to start works to help owners to understand where their contributions are going.
The advantage in keeping the appearance of the properties the same is that units will be rented and/or sold at varying times throughout the year and where corporations make decisions at meetings which is a slow process it is much harder to do the standard cleanup before sale that many owners do on Torrens Title properties.
There is a value to Strata, but only when owners prepare for future maintenance and make use of meetings. We aim to help our clients through this by identifying items that may need work in the future and placing these on the agenda for discussion.
