Do you own (or have a mortgage on) an apartment, villa, or townhouse that falls under strata governance in Australia?
You must proactively mitigate financial risks and safety hazards, and protect the property, and your body corporate has a legal obligation to ensure the exterior cladding applied to the buildings in the complex is safe and compliant.
Key Takeaways
- Strata properties in Australia must maintain fire safety compliance; this includes ensuring building cladding is non-combustible and ideally suited to the height and size of the building/s.
- Strata owners need to be proactive: understand state regulations for cladding compliance, ensure insurance policies are suitable and updated, undertake expert inspections, and take all practical steps to maximise fire safety.
- Recladding with a DtS non-combustible aluminium cladding system is highly recommended for the safety and compliance of strata properties in Australia.
What is a Strata Property?
“Strata” refers to a multi-occupancy property that is divided into individual, privately owned lots. It typically includes apartments, villas, and townhouses, and these have shared common property in the form of roofs, external walls, gardens, driveways, stairwells, elevators, swimming pools, etc, that are jointly “owned”.
Lot owners regularly pay levies to cover the insurance, management, and maintenance of common areas and legally share the responsibility for the entire complex; in Australia, this is managed by a “body corporate”.
It is the responsibility of the body corporate to ensure the external cladding on its strata property is safe and compliant with the National Construction Code.
Cladding: What Strata Building Owners Must Do
- Understand the regulations in your state as they apply to exterior strata cladding.Australia’s National Construction Code and the Building Code of Australia set minimum requirements, and these must be checked to ensure your cladding is both compliant and safe.
- Your building needs to be assessed by an expert inspector. It can be difficult to be certain what type of cladding is present on a building, and current construction materials may not be properly documented – or even misrepresented in some cases. A qualified assessor can inspect the property and confirm the exact type of cladding used. They will provide clarification to give you peace of mind or make recommendations if cladding remediation/recladding is required.
- You must keep all inspection records and certificates of compliance. It is entirely the responsibility of owners and the body corporate to rectify issues with dangerous or non-compliant cladding. All records become legal documents in this scenario and must be retained as part of the compliance process, as well as for insurance.
- You must ensure your insurance policy is adequate and up-to-date. Insurers must be immediately notified if cladding is found to be non-compliant; failure to do this may lead to future claim denial. You need to be certain of the fine print on your policy regarding cladding, compliance, and fire safety, and find and take out the right policy to meet your specific needs.
- Maximise fire safety. This may include:
- Installing fire alarms
- Installing smoke alarms
- Installing fire extinguishers
- Installing fire hydrants
- Installing a sprinkler system
- Ensuring the accessibility, functionality, and proper signposting of fire exits
- Installing fire doors
- Conducting regular fire drills
If your cladding is old or non-compliant, undertake a recladding project using DtS non-combustible cladding.
Why Choose Mitsubishi ALPOLIC™?
Mitsubishi ALPOLIC™NC/A1 is a DtS non-combustible aluminium cladding product that complies with Australia’s fire safety standards. Designed for use on buildings over 18 metres tall and other high-occupancy buildings such as aged care facilities and hospitals, it also meets Europe’s highest fire safety classification, EN 13501-1 Class A1 rating. The product is made from thin aluminium sheets bonded to a mineral fibre core; the lightweight panels make them easier to handle and install.
Also suited to some strata complexes, the Mitsubishi ALPOLIC™/fr line is designed for houses and buildings no taller than 18 metres.
Final Thoughts
There is no finer option for strata buildings in Australia in terms of durability, fire safety, compliance, and versatility. Moreover, ALPOLIC™ products are made to last decades, and are 100% recyclable at the end of their lifespan. ALPOLIC™ NC/A1 has no ongoing maintenance requirements and comes with a twenty-year full replacement warranty (no cleaning clause). It is well worth the investment.
