A Busselton strata manager has urged the WA Government to add an additional change to its strata title reform so property owners are not at risk of being hit with highly inflated strata levies.
Stratacam principal Brian Rulyancich said if developers pulled out or went bust there was no recourse for property owners once a property was registered as a strata.
He would like the state government to change the legislation so property owners put a percentage of the cost of a property into a retention fund, similar to what is done in NSW.
The money in a retention fund would be held for a period of time so if there were building defects, or a developer went bust and work needed to be done, Mr Rulyancich said the money would come from the retention fund.
“If that happens going forward it would be a different ball game,” he said.
Mr Rulyancich said the reason strata levies increased so much was because strata owners paid to fix building problems and the only way to pay for it was from strata owner’s levies.
One hundred apartment owners in Perth recently had their strata levies increased by 110 per cent to fix building defects, said Vasse MP Libby Mettam.
Ms Mettam said with strata comprising 25 per cent of properties across WA the government should not wait any longer for reform.
She said proposed changes made by the former government would have addressed issues and provided more flexible housing options to benefit developers and strata owners.
A Landgate spokesperson said under current strata title laws, owners may establish a reserve fund to meet major expenses which were likely to arise in the future but it was not mandatory.
The spokesperson said strata title reforms contained a proposal that schemes with ten or more lots have a reserve fund and maintenance plan outlining what repairs the scheme was likely to need over the next five years.
“This is similar to strata reforms in NSW,” they said.
