The OMB Law Board: S5 Ep 11 | The Renovation Mistake That Could Cost You

Thinking about renovating your unit? If you're in a body corporate, there's a lot more to it than calling a builder.

Body Corporate Partner Juliette Nairn is back on the OMB Law Board to walk us through exactly what you can and can't do when renovating a lot and what approval you need before any work begins.

We cover what you actually own in a body corporate (it's less than you think), which renovations require body corporate approval, how the application process works, and what happens when you change the external appearance of your building.

Whether you're planning new floors, blinds, an awning, or a full renovation - this episode is essential listening before you pick up the phone to a tradie.

What is The OMB Law Board?

Welcome to The OMB Law Board, the podcast where legal insights meet practical advice. Hosted by Simon Bennett, Managing Partner at OMB Solicitors, this show delves into what you can expect when engaging with OMB Solicitors. Specialising in property law and commercial law, OMB also boasts dedicated teams for estate planning, contested estates, body corporate matters, litigation, and family law.

Each episode features in-depth discussions led by experienced team leaders, some with over 20 years of expertise. You'll gain valuable knowledge on initial consultations, cost assessments, timelines, and the importance of clear communication and confidentiality in legal matters.

Join us to break down barriers and navigate your legal journey with confidence. Tune in for expert advice, client stories, and tips on how to prepare for your legal needs. The OMB Law Board is your trusted source for all things legal.

00:00:06:02 - 00:00:33:14
Unknown
Welcome back to the OMB Law Board. I'm Simon Bennett and today I've got our body corporate partner, Juliette. Welcome back. Thank you very much, Simon. Good to be back. Juliette. All things body. Corporate as usual with you. As you are an expert today, I want to bring our listeners and have you on a bit of a journey where I own a body corporate lot, and I want to renovate it, or I want to conduct building works on my lot, which is my lot that I own.

00:00:33:18 - 00:00:36:00
Unknown
Yes. And I've got problems. Yes.

00:00:36:00 - 00:00:53:12
Unknown
You will have problems if you haven't told the body corporate first. Okay. So stick with us as we get Juliette to explain to us how we get these renovations done. Can we do them? And what's the process? So, Juliette, let's talk about that first. Again, we really probably need to understand what our lot is.

00:00:53:18 - 00:01:28:13
Unknown
That's exactly right. So again, it goes back to that basic fundamental point. I'm a new lot owner. I’m buying my first time into a body corporate. You need to read the survey plan and you need to read your bylaws in your community management statement, because that will tell you where your shared walls are with other lodge owners, but also tell you where the common property rules are and the bylaws will give you typically a renovation bylaw, which is an application form that shows you how to do the process.

00:01:28:15 - 00:01:48:10
Unknown
So here we go again. Survey plane. It tells me what is mine. What is your lot? What is shared? What is shared and what is common property. That's exactly right. Look at remembering because this is what everyone forgets. There's a lot of owner and body corporate. You pretty well only own the cubic air space that you live in.

00:01:48:12 - 00:02:07:21
Unknown
So if you're standing in your kitchen, have a think about what's in your kitchen. You have kitchen cupboards, you have your sink, you have those sorts of things. Your fixtures that are on the walls. The majority of the walls are common property walls. The front door that you open to go into your unit is a common property fire door.

00:02:07:23 - 00:02:43:06
Unknown
You can't change that in a renovation. Can't top that. No. Okay. And then the bylaws. Yes. What are the bylaws? So the bylaws are the individual rules for managing your unique body. Corporate common property, which all the lot owners voted on at the general meeting of your body corporation. So you were part of that voting. So it's about being a lot owner and being involved and understanding the stakeholders in a body corporate, your committee, your body corporate manager, and who you can talk to to help with the renovation process.

00:02:43:08 - 00:03:09:12
Unknown
All right. Run me through it. I've got carpet in my unit. I want to rip it up and put tiles or timber floorboards. Okay. It's always a really good one to start with. Removing carpet is okay. It's actually your property, the carpet. So you're allowed to remove that. But when you replace it with your own, either tiles or floorboards, you have to make sure that you're not going to cause a nuisance to the lot.

00:03:09:12 - 00:03:36:08
Unknown
I'm a lawyer, so the noise and the acoustics level, all manufacturer specifications will have a method as to what occurs. You will have a licensed builder who needs to install it, or get some feedback from the manufacturer as to how you install that if you're going to do it yourself. But you also need to make an application to the body corporate because you're improving your property, which will impact common property.

00:03:36:10 - 00:04:05:18
Unknown
Okay, so I can't just go off and do it. I have to get body corporate approval. Correct. You must do an application in accordance with your renovation bottle. Okay, now I've done that and I got my approval and I want to replace my tacky old curtains with some lovely, you know, French blinds on, or something of that nature or maybe an awning that goes on the outside, or maybe a more patio-style on our balcony, or an air conditioning unit or an air conditioning unit.

00:04:05:18 - 00:04:29:16
Unknown
Anything that is going to either penetrate or go through a common property wall, you are going to need body corporate approval. So you can't just put awnings on the front of your balcony without doing your renovations. Application to the body corporate, which is your body corporate committee. And in addition to that, let's say we were changing the blinds.

00:04:29:18 - 00:04:55:14
Unknown
But what we wanted to do was change the colour of our blinds so it might make the outside of our building look a bit like a checkbox. You're changing the amenity of your building and your style of your building from someone going from the outside looking in. That also can potentially be a breach of your bottles. So we're talking about now the external appearance of my lot and therefore the whole building.

00:04:55:15 - 00:05:20:16
Unknown
Correct. To retain, you know, value and prestige of a particular building. That's right. Because a lot of the buildings are prestigious and there is a consistent architectural design that went behind it. If you think back, there was actually a case that went to the High Court that was up in Noosa, and it spoke about, well, they call them the Romeo and Juliet balconies, the little balconies that go off the side of your buildings.

00:05:20:21 - 00:05:46:12
Unknown
That's how I remember it. And what happened was the High Court ultimately decided that despite the fact that a lot owner had exclusive use of that area, they couldn't change those types of balconies because it affected the architectural design and amenity of that building. Yeah, yeah. So we actually have High Court judicial interpretation that assists us with what a body corporate can do in managing its building.

00:05:46:14 - 00:06:06:20
Unknown
Is it a difficult process to make an application to the body corporate to do works? No, it is not a difficult process at all. It is actually almost the same process that you would go through if you were just doing renovations on your own home, on your own land. If you were, you had your own block of land. You need to fill in an application form addressed to the body corporate.

00:06:06:22 - 00:06:30:05
Unknown
Identify your builder, identify the works that you're doing, identify how you're going to do the work, and your builder can help you with all of that. And the committee can guide you with all of it as well. Sometimes within that contract, there is a renovation bond that is paid to make sure there's not damage to the common property, because don't just think about your internal lot as to what you're renovating.

00:06:30:07 - 00:07:04:23
Unknown
How are you getting the workmen up in the lifts? Where are they going to put the skip in? Are you going to put in a visitor's common property car parking space? Because that's going to impact other lot owners. So I need approval. You need approval to do that. Do you have covers to go over the list? Do you have an on-site manager that has those covers, or is your builder needing to supply those covers in a couple of our buildings at the moment, particularly because there are some penthouse renovations that are being done? We actually have external cranes that crane the materials up the side of the buildings.

00:07:05:01 - 00:07:15:11
Unknown
So sometimes the renovations can be very extensive. So can you give us an example of one of these cases where you've been able to assist someone to get these renovations done?

00:07:15:13 - 00:07:27:23
Unknown
In terms of an individual lot owner, particularly if it's a high-value renovation. Or alternatively, you might have a body corporate that is being unreasonable regarding the external appearance of their building.

00:07:28:01 - 00:07:53:09
Unknown
Particularly when we're talking about awnings and blinds, because let's be realistic, we live in Queensland, it's hot, it's sunny, and you want appropriate, usable areas. So what the body corporate can do to assist the community as a whole is it might have a design and a plan of awnings and blinds that suit everyone. So you might put a letter to the committee, a design as to what you want to achieve.

00:07:53:11 - 00:08:19:11
Unknown
That might go to a whole lot of owners. At a general meeting, the bylaw is redrafted, and everyone gets to have those types of awnings to help them use their property better. Yeah, that makes sense. So Juliet, at the start we were talking about the restrictions on using your own lot and renovating your own lot, but you've made it pretty clear that community living means we've got to consider others.

00:08:19:12 - 00:08:39:02
Unknown
That's exactly right. We don't want to be inconsiderate, we don't want to be causing a nuisance. But a community title scheme and harmonious living. The body corporate is made up of you. The lot owners. You're the members. So what it wants to be is the body corporate. The body corporate should be trying to do what helps the members as a whole.

00:08:39:04 - 00:09:00:19
Unknown
So if blinds on the building or awnings help the members as a whole, why wouldn't nobody corporate want to do that? There's a process. You need to be actively involved. You need to raid your survey plan. You need to read the CMS. Well, these are all things we've learned today which have been very helpful. And I'm sure, Juliette, you and the OMB body corporate team can help our listeners and viewers.

00:09:00:21 - 00:09:21:05
Unknown
Yes. That's right. So we look at it from a range of perspectives. We asked for a lot of body corporates, but we also asked for some individual lot owners, particularly in terms of making sure community title living is going well. Fantastic. Well, thank you so much for your time today, Juliet. I'm sure our listeners and viewers have found that really informative.

00:09:21:07 - 00:09:39:19
Unknown
Excellent. Thank you very much, Simon. Thanks for being with us today. If you've got a comment or question for Juliette, please let us know. We'll attempt to get back to you. We'll do an episode on it if it’s exciting. So. And we'll look forward to seeing you next week on the OMB Law Board.