A friend of mine is a Body Corporate Manager for a small commercial Body Corporate in regional Queensland. When the Body Corporate was established, some years ago, the original owner secured a lease with an independent supermarket. The lease covers four of the lots that are now owned by three separate parties. The internal walls for the four separate lots were never constructed by the original owner and a single electricity meter for all four lots was put in place. Years later, and the lease is about to expire and the supermarket is moving out. But who now pays to separate the lots and put in place individual lot electricity metering? A further complication is that
an upgrade to the mains meter box is required to support the additional meters.
One viewpoint is that all of these changes would be ‘an improvement to common property by a lot owner’ however if
the Body Corporate is required to upgrade the mains power board to ensure that a required utility service is provided to the lots, then that component of the work might be considered an ‘improvement to common property by the Body Corporate’. Then there are the resolutions required to give approval which will depend on – the type of change, the amount of the improvement, the current budget, spending limits on the committee. Tracsafe can help.
