TAS Recap – Winter 2020

Meetings

The Strata titles Act (1998) requires that strata owners’ meetings are held annually and to comply Tasmanian Strata Managers are holding meetings by Zoom, phone, mail, email or a combination of these methods. Although Tasmania is now free from COVID-19 the likelihood of the virus re-emerging in the State post borders opening is high.

It is recommended to continue with normal meetings scheduled to fulfil the obligations of the Act and to our clients. It is a matter for managers to decide how they will arrange meetings going forward, however please be mindful that a reemergence of COVID-19 in Tasmania will likely result in the reintroduction of meeting restrictions and social distancing.

Cleaning

Cleaning regimes in large buildings have generally been re-worked to focus on the thorough cleaning of common area doors, handrails, lift buttons and areas where large numbers of people contact surfaces in a building. Worksafe Tasmania require that signage be installed in buildings advising of social distancing and health warnings related to COVID-19. This signage is available from the Worksafe Tasmania website. SCA COVID-19 information has been previously distributed and is available from the National office if required.

Tasmanian Strata Titles Act (1998) Review

A final round of consultation closed recently inviting the input of interested parties to a rewrite of the Tasmanian Act. I am aware of a number of submissions from Tasmanian Strata Managers for which I thank you. We appreciate the invitation to submit to the Act re-write and look forward to continuing to be involved in the conversation over coming months.

A major part of our submission centered on compliance with the existing or a new Act and I am hopeful that any new Act will be more effectively enforced with a goal of having strata corporations arranging adequate insurance of improvements and public liability insurance on common property. It can only be a matter of time before some owners of strata properties in the state suffer losses through inadequate, under insurance or no insurance on those parts of the strata which are required under the Act to be insured by a Body Corporate.

Strata Managers play a major role in helping strata owners achieve compliance with the legislative requirements of the Act. Hopefully between informed owners, the Land Titles Office and a growing number of accredited Strata Managers in Tasmania, compliance can be improved including bringing some of the dormant and unmanaged plans under professional management.

Please take care and stay safe in these challenging times.