How inclusive is your Owners Corporation?

Accessibility and discrimination within Owners Corporations:

The topic of discrimination within strata properties is a complex one. Private property does not need to comply with the provisions of antidiscrimination legislations, such as the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (EO Act). Owners Corporations however, despite being private property, cannot be treated in the same way as a standalone house due to their shared nature, and the range of persons who may require access to and use of the property. This access is a fundamental right of those who privately own or lease within the property.

While more legislative guidance in this area would be welcome, a ruling in the 2018 case OC1-POS539033E v Black has helped clear things up, by irrefutably defining an Owners Corporation as a ‘service provider’ under the EO Act. In this case, the Supreme Court found that sections 44 and 45 of the EO Act – which state that a service provider ‘must not discriminate against another person’ and ‘must make reasonable adjustments for a person with a disability’ – do apply to Owners Corporations.

This is an important ruling, as these sections do not expressly refer to Owners Corporations and differ from Section 56 (which does) in that it is not only the responsibility of the OC to ‘allow’ the alterations, but rather to ‘make’ (and therefore, it can be inferred, ‘fund’) the alterations.

So, we now know that an OC, as a service provider, must accommodate reasonable requests of owners or tenants with a disability. But should Committees wish to future-proof, and secure their property’s position as a valuable and desirable place to live, consider taking things a step further? Read More…

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Knight Welcomes New OC Operations Manager Carla Pizzorno

Image
We are thrilled to announce a significant milestone for The Knight as we welcome Carla Pizzorno to our team as the newly appointed Owners Corporation Operations Manager . This strategic addition brings a wealth of experience and expertise, to propel our organisation towards new heights of efficiency and excellence. Carla comes to us with a proven track record in both the legal and strata worlds, making her an ideal fit to lead our OC Operations team . Carla’s passion is people, and in her new role will bolster and invigorate our existing culture of continuous improvement. “My passion is understanding people whilst inspiring and supporting them to be the best they can be. I love that I have the opportunity to do this in the ever growing and developing OC industry with long standing clients and OC managers that are required to have skills across a variety of fields.” This exciting new role will guide our team in adapting to the ever-evolving industry landscape and cement The Knigh...
Read more

The Future of the Development Industry – Sustainability, Community & Profit

Image
At The Knight we strive to be thought leaders within the Owners Corporation industry, constantly sharing and expanding upon our knowledge base. As part of this, we are constantly looking to the thought leaders around us for inspiration and guidance and December 3rd was an afternoon filled with such inspiration. Firstly, we attended the UDIA End of Year celebration in the Jinding Developments office in the Rialto Tower focused on the themes of Sustainability and Energy Efficiency. Projects which achieved an EnviroDevelopment verification were recognised and the increased push towards sustainability within the industry was observed. We then rounded out the evening by attending a free talk at the newly unveiled MPavillion, hosted by Small Giants Developments. The panel discussed how developers can reimagine the development industry and be facilitators to thriving communities. UDIA End of Year Celebration – Sustainability & Energy Efficiency In partnership ...
Read more

What is an Owners Corporation?

Image
Strata titled properties in Australia have assets (property, services) that no single private lot owner has individual responsibility and/or authority for. Examples include corridors, communal lighting, and a shared roof and so on. Within Victoria, Owners Corporations are legal entities created by the registration of Plans of Subdivision. The Plan of Subdivision will show which portions of the property are private and which are common. Why do Owners Corporations exist? Owners Corporations enable multiple people to own privately sub-titled property on the same piece of land, which also includes ownership of the land beneath ground level (e.g. a basement car park) and of the airspace above (e.g. when you own an apartment on the third flood, you really own the airspace at that height that is surrounded by walls, a floor and a ceiling). The Owners Corporation provides a legal structure for shared ownership of the common property and services that exists alongside ...
Read more