The new strata legislation requires that all existing strata schemes review their by-laws by 30 November 2017. What’s interesting is the Act does not provide detail on what a review is, or how this review is to be undertaken. And of course, this requirement does not lock an owners corporation out of undertaking a review at any point in time.
What this requirement does do is take us back to the basics when it comes to by-laws. What are they even for? Do residents know what they are? Do the by-laws realistically reflect the building?
While there are practical elements to certain bylaws- the conferring of rights and responsibilities over an area of common property for example – for the most part by-laws set the expectation of how people live together in each individual strata-micro community. The first tip I always give someone looking to buy or live in a strata building is read the by-laws. This is how you know if you can have a pet or dry your laundry on the balcony.
If a strata community has been in operation for a number it years, it is likely the by-laws no longer provide an accurate picture of those lifestyle expectations. We assume this is the reasoning behind the legislative requirement. So what is the best method for reviewing your by-laws?
First and foremost the most obvious place to start is with knowing the existing by-laws. The second crucial step is in knowing the community, and being able to cross reference the buildings lifestyle against the by-laws to establish if they match. If they don’t, the committee should start considering amendments.
The second step, ‘knowing your community’ may be a difficult question to substantiate. The committee, as owners themselves will be well placed to know what the owners may expect from their fellow resident, but perhaps the devil is in the detail and the best way to know what people want and expect is to ask.
Strata Sense have developed a flexible ‘by-law survey’ designed to gauge what areas of management are important to the owners, and if greater engagement in communicating by-laws is needed. The survey encourages participants to reflect on elements of strata living and provide a graded response to each question in terms of importance or relevance. The answers assist in determining what the majority of owners consider to be important issues, and which may be less prevalent as an area of discontent. With survey results in hand, your Strata Sense manager can expertly assist the committee in amending by-laws, or having new ones drafted that accurately depict the rules, expectation and lifestyle factors of a building.
The benefits of taking the extra time to engage all owners will extend beyond a great set of by-laws and will include a genuine sense of ‘buy in’. After all, strata ownership is collective ownership and by-laws require a special resolution to pass. Allowing each owner a platform to have a direct input into something as important as the by-laws will strengthen your strata community and the good will among owners.
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