About Strata

Strata ownership and strata living is a bit different from living in a house on a block on your own. There are obvious differences, such as the need to be quieter at times that others usually want to sleep. But there are other differences that are less obvious, such as who to talk to when a plumbing issue arises, since sometimes the issue will be related to the plumbing in your apartment, but sometimes it will be a bigger problem, affecting a number of apartments.

So, here's a quick primer on how Strata works.

Common Property

Each lot owner effectively owns their own lot outright, but also owns a share in the rest of the grounds. The rest of the grounds (which includes fixtures such as carports, gardens, irrigation, and so on) are referred to as "common property", and it is the responsibility of all of the owners collectively to maintain and repair the common property.

In Lakes Edge Villas, each lot's courtyard is also part of the common property, although there are allowances in the by-laws to permit lot owners to make improvements to their courtyard.

Governance

Strata Company

All owners, collectively, form a Strata Company. This is simply the legal entity that allows the owners to participate in joint ownership of the common property and to collectively deal with the issues that come from owning a small lot that is part of a larger parcel.

Council of Owners

Each year (at the Strata Company's Annual General Meeting), a Council is created in order to do the actual work of maintaining the Company and the property, and dealing with governance decisions. The Council of Owners is empowered by the AGM to act on behalf of the Strata Company.

Strata Manager

The Strata Company appoints a Strata Manager; the Strata Manager enters into a contract with the Strata Company to help manage the day-to-day affairs of the Strata Company (such as pay bills related to common property, collect strata fees, and so on).

The Strata Manager is usually the first point of contact for anyone who is experiencing problems at the complex. The Strata Manager will typically contact those affected, call out plumbers for common-property plumbing issues, and so on.

Summary

• All owners collectively form a legal entity known as the Strata Company
• The Strata Company delegate the responsibility for governing the property to the Council of Owners
• The Strata Company appoints (possibly via the Council of Owners) a Strata Manager to tend to the day-to-day running of the Strata Company's affairs