External Painting Strata Unit

Hi all,
A query regarding external repainting of tenanted townhouse in Victoria.
There are 5 townhouses and my unit front is exposed to outside street and side of the house is separated by the common driveway.
The paint work now 10 years old and some areas needs repainting.The strata manager says I need to match the original colour at the owners expense. Is that correct ?
Thanks

 

You certainly need to match the existing colour scheme. The Strata manager should be able to provide the colour reference. In our complex external painting occurs about every 10 years and we are provided the option of doing it ourselves or paying the bc though a special levy and they get the painting done. Must be the specified colour though.

 

Colour needs to match. We just recently painted our complex. It was paid via the sinking fund.

 

I was not sure whether I should be paying or is it a strata work.
Thank you

 

If it is Victoria, then you ness to check if it is your liability (likelihood is it will be yours as it will lie within your boundaries).

@lixas4 could clarify further.

 

It doesn't have to match nor be the same as today.

However, it likely will have to be approved by strata. Unless the old colour is fantastic (and some people like 80's beige or cottage green) - I'd be proposing a new colour scheme to add value to the complex.

I would be careful how I did that not to get people offside though.

 

That’s fair enough, but when it comes to painting externals, there is the colour matching issue. For example there are villas/units/townhouses that can be attached. So if you paint yours, then the others will likely look different. This may be the case why strata may pay (as was the case for me). It may be better to paint everyone’s all at once so it matches/or change to another colour scheme

 

The first thing to work out is who owns the wall? Is the wall on the boundary? Is the boundary to the internal face, or median, or external face of the wall?

Do you own the external face where the painting will occur or does the OC? Whoever owns pays.

 

One side of the unit face the common road access to the other units. Now, I have an email from Strata people (OC) saying that I have to colour match and it is my own expense.

 

I would raise it at the next AGM. Why don’t you have a look at the other buildings in the complex and see what the condition of theirs are like? Do they need painting as well? Get a quote for yours, so you can pitch the idea. Speak to the other owners (if you can) and see if they are interested in doing something similar. Check how much is in the skinning fund? If a special levy is required, you will probably have a hard time convincing others, but if there is plenty there to cover costs, than perhaps others will be interested. At the AGM, have your ducks lined up and put in a proposal (I.e costs/opportunity, will it add value to everyone by doing this, how will it be paid for, can the sinking fund cover it, is there an opportunity to upgrade the colour scheme to bring it to modern standards etc.)