Strata & Community Living Autumn 2025
2025 Autumn Edition
Building your Mental Health Fitness
The Benefits of Abseiling for Your Strata Building
Hold on to your Hats… More Legislative Change!
Being Prepared: Extreme Weather Risks
The Importance of Roof Repairs & Maintenance
Key changes to NSW Fire Safety Regulations for 2025
Understanding risks with ageing strata schemes
Upgrading Your CCTV and Access Control Systems
Papering over the cracks
Building your Mental Health Fitness
Mental health impacts many in our industry. ”The Gotcha4Life Mental Fitness Gym offers practical resources to enable and inspire individuals on their journey to build their mental fitness and wellness” Belinda Elworthy, CEO of Gotcha4life.
Simple exercises which can be integrated into anyone’s daily routine to form new habits. To Download the Mental Gym, head to the Gotcha4life website – www.gym.gotcha4life.org
The Benefits of Abseiling for Your Strata Building
For strata managers, maintaining a building’s exterior is an ongoing responsibility that requires careful planning and execution.
Traditional access methods like scaffolding and elevated work platforms (EWPs) can be costly, time-consuming and disruptive to residents. Abseiling, also known as rope access, offers a practical, efficient and cost-effective solution for high-rise and multi-storey buildings. Keeping a strata building’s exterior well-maintained is crucial for both aesthetics and structural integrity.
Hold on to your Hats… More Legislative Change!
Sweeping amendments to the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 and Community Land Management Act 2021 were assented to on 2 march 2025.
A small number of the amendments have now commenced with the assent:
- Changing the voting threshold to remove office-bearers to mirror that to remove committee members – an ordinary resolution instead of a special resolution.
- Amending section 103(3)(c) for clarity this is with retrospective effect to when the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 commenced.
- Removing voting limit restrictions on Company Nominee’s voting power.
Being Prepared: Extreme Weather Risks
Strata owners should take proactive steps to prepare for and recover from severe weather events.
Strata claims after extreme weather events often include:
- Structural Damage: High winds and debris can compromise roofs, break windows, and weaken exteriors.
- Water Ingress: Heavy rains can cause leaks, which can lead to mould and rising damp. Flooding can affect common area car parks and driveways.
- Power Outages: Disruptions to power impacts services like elevators, security and lighting.
The Importance of Roof Repairs & Maintenance
It is important to note that roofs are the most exposed part of the house and are subject to maximum wear all year round. From extreme rainfall to raging winds, the roof endures all and, thus, should be made durable and well maintained. Addressing roof leaks promptly is crucial to prevent further damage and costly repairs.
It is important to engage a trusted professional for the works as they can investigate underlying problems, identify any potential issues which could arise in the near future and suggest measures to prevent any major damage.
Key changes to NSW Fire Safety Regulations for 2025
Fire safety affects every building whether it is single or multistorey residential, commercial, or industrial. Understanding the regulations and compliance requirements is paramount.
From 13 February 2025 (or 18 months after an accreditation scheme is approved, whichever comes first), owners must ensure that fire safety certificates, which are required to certify the fire safety measures for new building work, must be issued by an accredited fire safety practitioner.
Understanding risks with ageing strata schemes
Insurers focus on infrastructure risks with older buildings, like electrical and plumbing services, where failure could be catastrophic. Strata schemes need to allocate money in their capital works fund for major infrastructure upgrades. However, being proactive with ongoing maintenance and regular inspections can help strata schemes keep their property safe and operable day-to-day.
Strata insurers also require properties to be maintained and losses to be mitigated, and this potentially lowers the risk profile and results in better insurance terms.
Upgrading Your CCTV and Access Control Systems
Are you finding it difficult to identify people or vehicles on your CCTV system? Do you only have a week’s worth of footage available when an incident is reported at your building? Is your CCTV recorder challenging to use and slow when retrieving footage?
If you answered yes to these questions, you likely have an outdated CCTV system. While these systems were impressive in their time, they no longer meet today’s standards for security.
Papering over the cracks
Beware of cosmetic fixes which only mask the underlying building issue. Quality-based remedial building solutions go to the crux of the problem.
The cycle of inferior repair work can lead to persistent building issues or escalate in ways which prove more costly in the long run. When owners corporations are fixated on the lowest-cost remedial services, they risk falling into the same trap as the original developers and builders. There are no quick shortcuts to quality and compliance.
Photo Credit: Freepik
