Why common property is where the risk sits
Apartments have carpet and small bathrooms that owners look after. The scheme owns the foyer with its polished stone, the pool deck, the external stairs from the street, the car park ramp, the shared laundry and the bin room. Every one of those is wet at times, sloped in places and used by residents, visitors, couriers and contractors who do not know the building. When someone falls, it is the owners corporation, and through it the insurer, that answers for the floor.
What committees usually test
- The main entry foyer, inside the door and past the mat
- External approaches: steps, ramps and paths from the street and car park
- Pool surrounds, pool steps and the route from the pool to the change rooms
- Communal bathrooms, saunas and gym floors
- Car park pedestrian ramps and painted stairs
- Lift lobbies on floors where the finish is hard rather than carpet
- Rooftop terraces and BBQ areas
A typical mid-rise building lands between six and ten locations. Large complexes with several pools and towers scale up from there. See how many test locations you need.
Timing that works for a scheme
Three moments are common. First, at handover from the developer, when a test before the defects period closes gives the committee leverage if the specified floor does not perform. Second, at insurance renewal, when brokers increasingly ask for a current report. Third, after an incident or a near miss reported to the strata manager. Many schemes then settle into an program round with the pool and entry tested more often.
Presenting the result to a committee
Committees are volunteers with an agenda to get through. The report should let them see in one page which locations meet the HB 198:2014 recommendation for their type and which do not, how far short the shortfalls are, and what is recommended for each. A ranked list turns a technical document into a motion: fix the pool steps this quarter, deep clean and retest the foyer, monitor the car park ramp.
What to do with a shortfall
Often the answer is cheaper than the committee fears. Foyer stone that has lost grip to cleaning residue usually responds to a change of chemistry and a deep clean. Pool tiles can be etched without changing their look. Painted car park stairs can be recoated with an anti-slip system in a day. Replacement is rare. Read fixing a failed floor for the options, and insist on a retest so the file shows the improvement.
Keeping the record
The strata manager should hold each report with the building's compliance documents alongside fire, lift and pool certificates. A run of dated reports showing the same locations tested each year, with shortfalls acted on, is the strongest position a scheme can be in if a claim arrives.