Are you looking for Strata Choice? How to influence.

Are you looking for Strata Choice?

It may feel like you have little choice when you live in a strata scheme or community title property. You pay the levies you are sent, email the strata manager that was already there, and abide by the by-laws you had no influence over.

Many buildings will require curtain backings of certain colours, fly screens that match and some even dictate what furniture or plants that can go on the balcony. And renovations, let’s not even go there!

But, we have good news. As an owner in a strata scheme, you do get choice, and the key to achieving that is getting involved.

Strata ownership is essentially, collective ownership. You own the airspace within the 4 walls of your apartment/townhouse (& a few things in it). But the physical structure of the building (including those four walls), those are common property, and you co-own them with every other owner in your building.

Which means, collective agreement to achieve choice. It’s possible to have influence over the things that are important to you in your community home. But you have to good involved.

Apathy is a huge challenge in strata and community living. The vast majority of owners don’t have the time, interest, or maybe even lack the confidence to get involved. That’s good news if you want to champion change, there are likely less people you need to influence to make things happen.

The first thing you want to do is familiarise yourself with the strata jargon. We have a great resource for this , which you can access here.  Next, get to know your building. Read the by-laws. Get your head around the financials and take a deep dive into the previous minutes.

As the first opportunity, join the strata committee. The committee is elected at the AGM, and while in some buildings is hotly contested, in most it’s a struggle to get owners to join. This is where you have a direct vote on all day-to-day decisions. From approving quotes to considering renovation and pet applications. Read our blog on what to expect when you join the committee.

From the committee you can find yourself in a position to drive change and influence decisions. And while yes, majority rules will generally be the rule in community ownership, there is legislation to protect individual owners. If the owners corporation is operating in contradiction of the law, you can take action to remedy that. Likewise, most approval requirements come with the caveat ‘must not unreasonably withhold’.

Strata choice looks different to house choice, but you can make it happen.