When people buy a townhouse style property with individual entries, separate carparks and a different street number for each, they don’t think they are buying into strata. So it is the responsibility of the developer to make sure these properties operate like Torrens title properties, even if they can’t be titled that way.
To make this possible we recommend these simple inclusion onto the strata plan:
- The structure of the building standing on each lot including walls, floors, ceilings, roofs and patios forms part of the lot and is not common property
- All common services lines and common property
- Any service line within one lot servicing another lot is common property
- any service line including electricity and electricity meter box within one lot servicing another lot is common property
- water tanks and hot water tanks form part of the lot and are not common property
- lots are limited in stratum from 5 meters below to 10 meters above the upper surface of the respective units ground floor
- letterboxes and connected elements form part of the lot and are not common property
- brick retaining walls within the lots form part of the lot and are not common property.
The cost for a developer to add these notes is zero, or very close to zero, and it will make a townhouse development run so much smoother.
It is important to understand that sometimes these strata plan notes are not possible, so be sure to understand how elements can be easily separated. Such as the roof before making each owner responsible for their part.