KEY POINTS:
The Government is about to introduce long-awaited law changes giving aggrieved apartment owners new avenues to settle disputes with their bodies corporate.
But they will also make it harder dwellers to be the lone voice against a plan most colleagues support.
The Unit Titles Bill, to be introduced
to Parliament by Building and Construction Minister Shane Jones, is a rewrite of 1970s legislation which has become outdated as more and more people begin living in apartment-style accommodation.
Nearly four years of consultation are behind the bill, which gives bodies corporate more power but also tries to make them more transparent.
Problems with existing laws have been highlighted in the leaky homes saga and Mr Jones said all MPs had heard "very sorry tales" from apartment owners.
"Like all stories, there's two sides to the coin," Mr Jones told the Herald.
Some cases of leaky buildings had got worse as unit or apartment owners could not agree on a path of action, or as one or two people held out against paying for repairs. But there were also concerns about the transparency of decisions made by bodies corporate and their overall conduct.
Mr Jones said: "During the development of this bill, scores of people provided us with examples of unacceptable and certainly improper conduct.
This bill will recalibrate the rights and obligations."
A body corporate oversees the common areas of a building, such as the lift area or hallway of an apartment block. Apartment owners pay fees to it and it is responsible for maintenance affecting those common areas.
In Auckland the number of people living in apartments, townhouses and high-rise buildings is expected to reach 500,000 within 50 years.
But as the numbers have risen, disputes have as well - with many centring on the levies that bodies corporate charge, their rules and their management.
Among the changes being proposed in the Unit Titles Bill is the removal of the requirement for a unanimous vote for a body corporate to take particular actions.
A unanimous vote is required now only in certain circumstances, and Mr Jones argued the lower 75 per cent threshold would help redevelopments, help organise something like fixing a roof, and prevent holdouts - where one or two people could prevent something going ahead that a clear majority supported. If a dispute arose, instead of having to go straight to the courts the parties would be able to go first to mediation or seek an adjudication from the Tenancy Tribunal.
"Unit owners have come to me because they live in leaky buildings and are trying to get repairs done, but the process is frustrated by one or two unit owners who don't think they should be paying to repair the building," Mr Jones said.
"The bill will empower the body corporate to act for the developmentas a whole and get the repairsdone."
But John Gray, president of the Homeowners and Buyers Association of New Zealand, said last night:
"I think it's dangerous unless there are other balancing sections of the act which prescribe a very high degree of due diligence and due process around all of those decisions."
Some so-called "holdouts" had adopted that position for very good reasons, he said.
He welcomed the move to ensure bodies corporate develop long-term maintenance plans because of concern about sudden costs hitting owners.
BROUGHT INTO LINE
* The requirement for a unanimous vote in body corporate decision making will be removed. Instead, a 75 per cent agreement will be enough to decide on things such as redevelopments or fixing the roof.
* Every body corporate will have to draw up a long-term maintenance plan, and apartment or unit owners will contribute annually to the costs. This is designed to avoid situations where costs are sudden and unexpected - such as the installation of a new lift.
* Disputes with bodies corporate will be able to be dealt with initially through mediation, or adjudication in the Tenancy Tribunal, rather than through the courts.
* Potential purchasers will be entitled to view a body corporate's audited accounts, rules and maintenance plans.
* A body corporate will own the common property. If an apartment block has a leaky roof it will be the body corporate's responsibility to fix it, not that of the owner of the top floor apartment.
