How about some insight into some of the legal issues that arise with apartments, apartment buying, selling and management. There is plenty to talk about, especially with the massive change in unit titles law that is on the horizon.
If you want any comments made on particular legal issues, just send in your questions.
I thought I’d start with some of the fundamental stuff, the language. Words like stratum estate, unit title, common property, body corporate, unit entitlement; what do they actually mean?
Although “unit title” is a commonly used description of ownership of an apartment it isn’t a phrase that’s used in the legislation. The legal description is a “stratum estate”. That is ownership of the unit, but it includes more than that. It includes shared ownership of the common property and recognition of the notion that if the legal set up for the unit development is ever cancelled, a right to co-own the property remains.
Unit entitlements are calculated based on the value of your unit compared to the other units. They are only assessed once, when the development is first done, and then remain the basis on which your share of costs is calculated for the life of the building.
The “body corporate” is simply everyone who owns property in the development. When the titles first issue a legal entity is created and given a number, but all it is is the owners. The owners might in turn appoint a body corporate secretary or manager to help run the development.
Common property means any property in the development that is not a principal, accessory or future development unit. The definition gets a little more complicated in the new act, and the concept of “base land” is introduced, but more about that on another day.
Debra Dorrington