Can there be such a thing as too much information in these confused and trying times? At the risk of nit-picking, the recently issued Strata Community Australia guide to dealing with coronavirus for strata managers, members and owners comes pretty close.
Don’t get me wrong. This 22-page guide to everything you ever needed to know about dealing with the virus in apartment blocks is full of very, very useful info and you can download it HERE.
And we shouldn’t forget that SCA is primarily an umbrella group for strata professionals – strata managers, facilities managers and service providers – plus having an ancillary section for strata owners.
In fact, it’s probably in trying to be all things to all people that this document falls down. That said, I strongly recommend that strata residents, and especially committee members, download it and read it thoroughly.
If nothing else, the sections specifically for strata managers will give you a sense of the challenges they are facing, including everything from working from home to dealing with angry and frustrated residents.
From our point of view – that is, owners and renters – it has sections on everything from food runs for the elderly to people who should be self-isolating or quarantining (there’s a difference) but aren’t.
If someone is required to be in quarantine and does not comply, the SCA says it views that as a criminal offence so it’s a police issue, not an owners’ corp problem. But the document advises gathering evidence before you call the cops.
Moving on, should you inform your building manager if you have tested positive for Covid-19? Should the committee close the swimming pool and gym? Should there be hand-sanitizer in the lifts? The answers are yes, yes and yes. And there are myriad other questions raised and answered.
This comprehensive document is well worth downloading and reading, if only so you know why your committee has taken certain actions, and perhaps realise others that they should have adopted but haven’t.
But, for my money, extracting all the stuff only relevant to apartment residents – tenants as well as owners – plus landlords and committee members, might have been a valuable exercise for those of us with shorter attention spans.
