Part and parcel of strata community living is compliance with the rules and regulations and management of the same. This requires good governance and retention of important documents by the strata community.

1. Plan of subdivision

A copy of the plan of subdivision should be retained because it not only provides the boundaries (what is common property and what is private property), it also gives guidance on who should contribute to the costs of the strata community expenses. It will be very difficult for the strata community to operate if it does not rely on its plan of subdivision.

2. Minutes of meetings or ballots

To make sure all decisions of the strata community are validly passed (which means the strata community was legally authorised to make decisions) evidence of those decisions should be recorded on meeting minutes or ballots. The absence of recorded decisions in minutes could open the strata community to risks of acting without legal decisions being made.

3. Financial statements

In annual general meetings of a strata community, financial statements are presented. This document records, based on the previous financial year the following: strata community’s expenses, collected levy payment from the members or arrears of members. It also details the breakdown of the proposed budget for the upcoming financial year. A copy of the financial statements from previous and current financial years must be retained for the obvious reason that there must be evidence available to all members to demonstrate how the funds collected from them have been and will be spent.

4. List of members’ names, postal address, email address and contact number

It goes without saying that the strata community must have an accurate list of all its members’ names, postal address, email address and contact number so that they receive all documents of the strata community. We emphasise the word accuracy. If the strata community does not have the members’ accurate details, consequently, the member would not receive the documents and in turn the member would not be able to pay their contribution levies that adversely impacts the strata community’s budget and compliance with their legal obligations.

5. Contracts

The strata community, must at all times, retain a fully signed copy of all agreements and contracts that they are a party. Further, they should keep track of when the contract ends, so that they could appropriately consider their financial and contractual obligations in the coming financial years.

We have chosen 5 crucial documents that should be retained. However, we note that there are further documents that should be included in the list. We are interested in what you think should be included to this list. We want to hear from you, so please comment on our podcast in the relevant section.

Strata enthusiasts, keep in mind to – continue upgrading yourself.