Who takes care of window repairs and renovations in our building? – Christopher, NSW

A 9 storey strata building built 50 years ago had aluminium sash windows when built. Several owners have replaced their windows with modern spec windows at their own cost. The owners corporation would like to implement a building-wide replacement of the remaining original windows. The question is – who pays? Should the project cost be shared by all owners including those with self-funded new windows in accordance with their lot weightings? Or should the cost to replace windows be shared only among the owners whose windows are replaced?

– Christopher, NSW

Depending on when your strata property was registered, the onus of repairing and renovating certain parts of property may be on the individual lot owner or the owners corporation. Since your building was registered before 1 July 1974, it is the responsibility of the owners to take care of fixes and costs from renovations. It is probably best that the owners corporation play a facilitation role only and each lot owner engage the contractor directly and pay for the repairs and renovations.

You may get in touch with your owners corporation for specific details related to your property’s registration and laws that may apply.