Important deadline on approach for Queensland property investors

According to Archers the Strata Professionals partner Andrew Staehr, stage two needs to be completed by property owners and body corporate managers by 29 May, or apply for an extension by 1 May.

“While some building owners should have been able to get off the ‘compliance bus’ at stage one if they had no cladding issues, many owners and managers still find themselves going along for the ride to stage two because there may be combustible cladding on signage and other parts of the property,” Mr Staehr said.

“With the short time frames to comply with stage two, building owners need to work quickly to ensure they comply with the legislation. Stage two compliance involves engaging a licensed building industry professional such as an engineer or architect, registering their details on the Safer Buildings website, having them fill out the combustible cladding checklist and uploading the completed checklist to the Safer Buildings website.

“Owners of buildings who know or suspect their building has combustible cladding can skip stage two and complete the stage three process, which involves engaging a fire engineer by [27 August] 2019. Owners of buildings wanting to skip stage two must indicate as such via the Safer Buildings website prior to [29 May] 2019.”

He said that about half of the buildings managed by Archers the Strata Professionals were required to comply with the new regulations, which he sees as vital.

“There is no substitute for complying with fire safety standards, which include ensuring strata communities have evacuation plans in place,” he said.

The new regulations require strata property owners to register their properties that were given development approval after 1 January 1994 and before 1 October 2018 for the construction of the building or to alter the cladding on the building.