Question 1

How is a body corporate created in Tasmania?

Accepted Answer

Automatically, and at no cost, when the strata plan is registered with the Recorder of Titles. Nobody has to establish it and no owner has to opt in. Every lot owner in the scheme is a member of the body corporate for as long as they own the lot. This surprises people who have bought into a small scheme that has never held a meeting: the body corporate exists regardless, and so do its obligations.

Question 2

What is the body corporate actually responsible for?

Accepted Answer

Under the Act a Tasmanian body corporate must control, manage and improve the common property, and keep it in good condition and in good and serviceable repair. It must enforce the by-laws. It must maintain the insurance the Act requires, along with any further insurance the owners resolve to hold. It is also responsible for allocating parking spaces on common property. Sitting under those duties is the practical work of keeping proper records and accounts, because a body corporate that cannot show what it decided and what it spent cannot demonstrate it met any of the rest.

Question 3

When must a body corporate hold meetings?

Accepted Answer

An annual general meeting is required, and must be held within fifteen months of the previous one. For a new scheme, the original owner must call the first meeting within three months of registration, or once half the lots have been sold, whichever comes first. A special general meeting can be called at any time, and must be called if more than one third of lot owners request it. That last point is worth knowing: if a third of owners want something dealt with, they do not have to wait for the AGM.

Question 4

What insurance does the Act require?

Accepted Answer

Two separate policies are required. The body corporate must take out and maintain insurance on the buildings and improvements on the site, covering damage from fire, storm, tempest or explosion and any other prescribed risks, and providing for reinstatement. That cover must also extend to the costs incidental to reinstatement or replacement, including removing debris and the fees of architects and other professional advisers, which is the part schemes most often forget to allow for. Separately, the body corporate must maintain public risk insurance over the site, covering accidental death, personal injury and property damage, for at least the minimum prescribed by regulation. Because the measure is reinstatement rather than market value, the sum insured should be set by a professional valuation and revisited, not simply indexed year after year. Individual owners insuring only their own lot instead of the building being insured collectively is not an alternative: it leaves gaps, it leaves the scheme exposed to whichever neighbour did not bother, and it puts the body corporate in breach.

Question 5

What are model by-laws, and do they apply to my scheme?

Accepted Answer

By-laws are the rules of the scheme: what owners and occupiers may do, how common property is used, and how the body corporate conducts itself. The Act contains a set of model by-laws which apply by default. A scheme can adopt its own by-laws instead, and if it has, they are registered and can be found through the Land Information System Tasmania. If you cannot find registered by-laws for your scheme, the model by-laws are almost certainly what governs it.

Question 6

Can I keep a pet in a Tasmanian strata scheme?

Accepted Answer

It depends on the by-laws that apply to your scheme. Under the model by-laws, keeping an animal requires the approval of the body corporate, which in practice means most schemes on model by-laws need permission rather than being outright pet free. If your scheme has registered its own by-laws, those govern instead and may be more or less permissive. Check what applies before you buy or before you get the dog, not after.

Question 7

How do unit entitlements work?

Accepted Answer

Unit entitlements are recorded on the registered strata plan, on its final page, and they set each lot's proportional share. They determine how much of the budget each owner contributes, and they generally determine voting weight where a poll is taken. They are not a valuation and they are not adjusted because a lot has been renovated. Changing them is a formal process, not a committee decision.

Question 8

What can be done if a body corporate is not meeting its obligations?

Accepted Answer

There is a pathway, and it does not begin in court. Bodies corporate are encouraged to adopt an internal dispute resolution process in their by-laws, and most problems are better solved there. Where that fails, an application for relief can be made to the Recorder of Titles when a body corporate is not doing what the Act requires. In the more serious cases, where a body corporate is unable to manage the property, maintain insurance or control the common property, an administrator can be appointed by the Supreme Court or the Recorder.

Question 9

Why does it matter that Tasmania has its own Act?

Accepted Answer

Because most of the strata information online is not about Tasmania. Victoria has owners corporations under its own legislation, New South Wales has separate strata schemes legislation again, and both produce far more published guidance than Tasmania does, so both dominate the search results a Tasmanian owner sees. Meeting requirements, voting thresholds, by-law making, insurance duties and dispute pathways are not the same across the three. A Tasmanian committee following a Victorian guide in good faith can end up making decisions that are not properly made.

The Strata Titles Act 1998

What the Strata Titles Act 1998 does