Most of us have heard the term “body corporate” at least once or twice in our lives. The question is – do you actually know what body corporate is, and what it does? Chances are, like most people, you probably have a rough inkling of what body corporate does but not the entire picture. In a nutshell, body corporate manages the common property of residential, commercial or retail development. In today’s article, we take a look at what body corporate actually does in order to give you a better understanding of the term, so read on to find out more!
1. Maintenance and Management
One of the key responsibilities of body corporate management is the maintenance of a building or space. Body corporate responsibilities often include maintaining and managing areas such as foyers, lifts, gardens and stairwells in the building. This can also extend to leisure areas in apartment buildings such as swimming pools, gyms, saunas and event rooms. The body corporate is obligated to ensure that all these common spaces that are shared by residents or retailers are always kept in tip-top condition. If you find that the building you live or work in isn’t up to scratch, we suggest that you look into how to change body corporate managers.
2. Enforcement of Building Laws
Body corporate is in charge of creating and enforcing building laws. If you live in an apartment, some of these laws may include not being allowed to smoke inside an apartment, keeping common corridors clean, not making noise after a certain time at night, ensuring that you dispose of your rubbish in the correct manner and other common acts of courtesy that would be expected of a resident. Body corporate is in charge of making rules for the building owners to follow and ensuring that anyone who flouts these rules pays the penalty for it.
3. The Critical Insurance Aspect
One of the most critical aspects of body corporate responsibilities include insurance such as public risk insurance for common areas and fire or natural disaster insurance. The body corporate often pays for one insurance policy that covers full replacement insurance for the building and public liability insurance for common property. Having adequate public liability cover for the common property is critical as a wide range of people have access to it which greatly increases the chances of accidents or injuries occurring in the space.
4. Fixing Of Common Household Issues
The body corporate is in charge of ensuring that issues such as broken locks or doors, plumbing and electrical issues are always taken care of. Often, a building resident simply has to notify the body corporate of any issues they are facing in their retail space or apartment. The body corporate will then have to ensure that a handyman is assigned to that particular case in order to get the issue resolved as soon as possible. Other issues that the body corporate are also in charge of include ensuring windows are washed and that all common areas are kept clean and habitable at all times.
5. Keep Records of Body Corporate
Lastly, one of the responsibilities of the body corporate is to always keep accurate records of anything that ensues in the building or at meetings. Other information that is meant to be kept on the record includes the register of assets, financial accounts, improvement to common property by owners, engagements and authorisations. All this information is expected to be up to date at all times as a reference to keep track of everything that is happening in and about the building.
Body corporate, in a nutshell, is something that every building, retail or commercial development requires in order to maintain order and balance. We hope that this article has given you some insight into exactly what body corporate does.