If you are new to living in a Body Corporate, you may be wondering what your role as a Lot Owner involves.

The team at SSKB have broken down your responsibilities into 5 points: 

• Ensuring you are on the Body Corporate Roll
• Submitting a Motion
• Maintenance of Lots and any Exclusive Use Common Property
• Paying Contributions
• Abiding by the Body Corporate and Community Management Act, the Regulation Module and the By-Laws

1. Ensuring you are on the Body Corporate Roll

The first step to being involved in the affairs of your Body Corporate is to ensure the Body Corporate has your name and contact details.

It is a statutory obligation that you inform your Body Corporate of your ownership of your Lot in the scheme. Generally, your solicitor should advise SSKB that you have purchased a Lot by submitting the official change of ownership form. However, sometimes your legal advisor may inadvertently overlook the required notice. We recommend that your first action is to contact to SSKB regarding your ownership details.

2. Submitting a Motion

If you have a matter that you want the Body Corporate to make a particular decision on that you think is of benefit to you, to a group of Owners, or to all Owners, here are two levels of approval depending on what the request is.

Certain matters are beyond the power of the Committee and appropriate for consideration only at a general meeting. These matters should be submitted to the Body Corporate as a motion for inclusion in the agenda for the next general meeting. If you submit after your financial year end it will have to wait until the following year.

If your application is something that can be approved at a Committee Meeting, it is important to note that an Owner can submit up to 6 motions per 12-month period. The 12-month period will begin on the date that the Owner submits their first motion. It is the responsibility of the Owner to manage their 6 motions.

If an Owner submits a motion and it is declined by the Committee, the Owner cannot resubmit the same motion for another 12 months. We suggest Owners keep track of the dates that they submit a motion in the case that they wish to resubmit. Your Community Manager will be able to advise you what level of approval is required for a particular matter.

3. Maintenance of Lots and Exclusive Use Common Property

Owners should understand their responsibility for maintaining certain parts of the scheme. The following table categorises various responsibilities.

The cost of the Body Corporate maintenance responsibilities will generally rest with the Body Corporate except where the need for maintenance is caused by a person, regardless of whether that person is a Lot Owner. In this situation the cost may be recovered against the person. 

4. Paying Contributions

Owners are required to pay contributions to the Body Corporate to ensure it has sufficient funds to meet its financial commitments in any given financial year. It is common (though not mandatory) to consider the financial year in terms of four quarters or, four payment periods. Some Bodies Corporate, break up the year into two six-month periods, some have three levies. A contribution notice is sent for each payment period. This notice will comprise the installments for the Sinking Fund, Administrative Fund and Insurance Fund if applicable. 

Payment of your contributions
For your convenience, SSKB provides several payment methods for your contributions. Please refer to the bottom of your contributions notice for payment options. You can also pay online or via the SSKB app. Download the app or go to the SSKB Portal at www.sskb.com.au and log in. 

5. Living Together

The behaviour of Owners and Occupiers of community titles schemes is regulated by the general law. However, each Community Titles Scheme has some specific regulations for behaviour.  

By-laws – The Rules Regulating Behaviour  

The unique regulations for each Community Titles Scheme are contained in the by-law(s) in the Community Management Statement. The by-laws should assist all the Occupants to live together harmoniously.  

A Body Corporate may make by-laws for:  

• Administration, management and control of common and Body Corporate assets; and  
• Regulation of, including conditions applying to, the use and enjoyment of Lots, Common Property, Body Corporate assets and services and amenities supplied by the Body Corporate.  

Enforceability of By-Laws 

By-laws contained in the Community Management Statement are binding mutual covenants on the Body Corporate, each member of the Body Corporate, each registered proprietor of the Lots in the scheme and each occupier of the scheme. A Body Corporate does not have a free hand to make rules about any subject matter. By-laws are illegal and unenforceable if they purport to beyond the administration, management and control of common property and body corporate assets. 

If you would like further information about your role as a Lot Owner or if you have any queries specific to your scheme, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your Community Manager.  

If you are not a client of SSKB and would like to see how easy it is to make the switch and experience the positive difference, click here.  

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