Scheduled Valuations Part of Strata Responsibility 2/09/2008 The list of work that is part of a strata buildings owners corporations responsibility is a long one indeed. And as a reader gets to section 85 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 is it any wonder that normal eyes may have begun to blur. They can easily miss it when the word ‘valuations’ finally appears in print.
‘Valuations’ it appears are not some add-on extra. They are part of the Act itself. It’s just that after perusing the 84 previous sections, their worth as an essential component of the total can be easily overlooked.
Mr Richard Tooker, the director of New South Wales Strata Management says such oversights can come up all too often. “The valuations are necessary for the purposes of insurance and are required by the Act, and must take place at least once every 5 years.”
Normal householders often forget to regularly upgrade their insurance cover, he notes, adding that owners corporations can easily forget to do so too.
“Undervaluing a strata building can result in not only a failure to meet legal compliance requirements but can understandably have adverse consequences in protecting the building owners.
“Fire and other threats normally insured against can see payouts insufficient to meet replacement costs if an adverse event were to occur. Good advice often sees owners corporations acting well before the maximum 5 years term is reached.
“Valuations at two to three year intervals are common, just to keep the level of cover in line with rising prices and rising material costs.”
Mr Tooker says the valuation must be done by someone who is a registered valuer, adding that the costs of such a service will usually depend upon the overall size and value of the building. A small block with only a few apartments with a total worth under one million dollars can be valued for as little as two hundred dollars, but high-rise buildings with many dozens of lots are usually valued only after a quote has been agreed upon in advance.
“One of the jobs of the strata management company is to oversee that such details as compliance with section 85 are met and attended to on time.
“This oversight role is a highly specialised one, and people who do this work on a regular basis must have a very good knowledge base on the finer aspects of the Act and its numerous parts and 248 sections.”
New South Wales Strata Management (formerly Gilmour Strata Management) commenced business in early 1991, as a member of the highly respected J A Gilmour & Sons group of companies. Licensed solely and specialising only in strata management services, the company has steadily grown to become one of the largest such organisations in New South Wales.
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