A NSW Lot Owner is wondering whether strata funds can pay for foyer Christmas decorations.
Question: We have discussed putting up some foyer Christmas decorations. Some residents have voiced their concerns about strata funds paying for the cost of acquiring the seasonal decorations.
Our strata has an uninteresting entry foyer that would benefit from some visual enhancement. Hanging some artwork on the blank walls would make both residents and visitors entrance and exit far more appealing.
This time of year, a Christmas tree and some festive decorations would also enhance everyone’s enjoyment of our property, and so I proposed some foyer Christmas decorations.
Some residents have voiced their concerns about strata funds paying for the cost of acquiring artwork or Christmas decorations. What if the picture and/or decorations were provided by a member of the community at no cost, as a gesture of goodwill this time of year?
Answer: We recommend you obtain an empowering by-law permitting the owners corporation to purchase artwork and foyer Christmas decorations.
While an owners corporation may acquire “personal property” (which is what foyer Christmas decorations would be) because the acquisition is not for the maintenance and keeping of the common property in a state of good and serviceable repair but rather for the “enhancement” of the common property, unfortunately, in our view, a special resolution (by-law) would first be required.
So, while the decorations and artwork cannot be paid for this year in time for Christmas, we recommend you obtain an empowering by-law permitting the owners corporation to purchase artwork and foyer Christmas decorations, and then pass a resolution to acquire same.
Despite the festive intentions of those wishing to donate decorations, we do not recommend this course. The decorations may cause a trip, fire and electrical hazards or fall on or otherwise injure someone. Many insurance implications arise and as a matter of strata law, you must not place anything on or affix anything to the common property without the proper authorisations, even if it is temporary or donated as goodwill. The cost is one point but the change to common property is the other.
Leanne Habib
Premium Strata
E: info@premiumstrata.com.au
P: 02 9281 6440
These articles are not intended to be personal advice and you should not rely on it as a substitute for any form of advice.
This post appears in Strata News #222 and #676.
Have a question about Christmas decorations in the foyer or something to add to the article? Leave a comment below.
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Our strata committee have spent $3000 on a concrete outdoor setting and erected it in the communal outdoor space. Is this acceptable practice?
Answer: We recommend you obtain an empowering by-law permitting the owners corporation to purchase artwork and foyer Christmas decorations.
Empowering by-laws are dubious at best.
If one hasn’t read Strata Title Property Rights by Cathy Sherry then i suggest it be put on ones to do list as it will explain why ’empowering by-laws’ are rubbish.
The purpose of the Act empowering a strata plan to make by-laws is not to empower the OC to make whatever rules it likes by making by-laws that suit whatever comes into their collective heads.
Dixon CJ, Williams, Webb & Fullagar JJ … such a power (to make regulations) will not support attempts to widen the purpose of the Act, to add new and different means of carrying them out or to depart from or vary the plan which the legislation has adopted to attain its ends …
… the objection is that the regulation is an attempt not to complement but to supplement the plan of the legislation … it is not confined to the same field of operation as the provisions of the Act
Shanahan v Scott (1957) 96 CLR 245 High Court of Australia
Supplement: something that is added to something else
Complement: a thing that contributes extra features
can I replant a garden on common ground
Hi rano
For information addressing approval for changes to common property, you may wish to read this post:
Q&A Vetos and Alterations to Common Property in NSW