Planning, organising, and managing a building maintenance project can be stressful and take up valuable time and resources. From organising reliable, qualified, and competent trades to developing a site risk management plan to ensure safe project completion all takes time, effort and skill. Other necessary considerations include knowledge of required building and compliance standards and meeting…
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Communities with embedded networks in Queensland have two choices when it comes to engaging a utility provider to manage their energy supply. They can either be an “exempt seller” themselves and engage a billing agent to manage the sale of energy and other services, or they can appoint an authorised retailer instead. Until recently, there…
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Visitor parking or parking on common property is an issue that can be regulated by a body corporate. The ability of owners and occupiers who live in a community titles scheme (CTS) to park on the common property is subject to the by-laws registered for the scheme. Most parking by-laws prohibit owners and occupiers standing…
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Unlike Small Market energy pricing, where tariffs are controlled by industry regulators and consumer pricing is capped, Large Market energy pricing is only partially regulated, and buyers need to be aware of what they are buying. What does that mean to me? Is my energy account Large or Small? What can I negotiate? What costs…
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Since the rise of AirBnB, many communities have felt the deleterious effects of short term letting. Conversely, a lesser publicised but equally important issue has stayed in the industry for longer: buildings developed for short term accommodation having to contend with long term tenants. Bodies corporate are frequently told that they cannot restrict how long…
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Completing an Occupiers’ Statement and sending it to the Commissioner’s Office every year sounds easy enough to do, so why does this seemingly straight forward exercise tend to generate so much confusion and angst? In this article, we have answered the most commonly asked questions from bodies corporate with regards to occupier’s statements. I am…
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Noise issues are likely to be enhanced even more during the COVID pandemic, where there are more people at the building than usual because they’re working from home, self-isolating or vulnerable. Then there’s the thorny issue of how to deal with noise and nuisance issues from the younger members of our strata community. Children and…
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Taking into consideration all elements of the facility management process can be an expensive, and often time-consuming, exercise. One of the most important tasks Facility Managers are faced with is identifying the most cost-effective solutions to issues that may arise. This generally comes down to ensuring the workplace is efficient in its day-to-day processes. There…
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Maintenance disputes are the single biggest issue that results in adjudication applications and information inquiries to the Commissioner’s Office. The general position is that; owners are responsible for maintaining their own lots; and the body corporate is responsible for maintaining the common property. However, there are a number of exceptions to the general position and…
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Statistics show that almost half of unit fires are started in the kitchen and 43% of all fire fatalities occur in winter. With winter well and truly upon us, now is the time to be prepared, if you haven’t already, by reducing the risk of fires occurring which can lead to loss of property, major…
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