Chatswood Conveyancing: Enclosed Balcony Approval Checks

If a Chatswood apartment is advertised with a sunroom or study created by enclosing a balcony, ask your conveyancer to check who authorised the work and what obligations pass to you. In NSW, the review should cover the owners corporation’s approval, any applicable registered by-law, and planning or building records where required. Establish who pays to maintain the glazing and who funds its removal and reinstatement if common property needs repair.

The first real test of a Chatswood sunroom may come years after settlement, when the owners corporation needs access to the balcony slab or façade. A row of sliding glass panels can make the room useful through winter. If those panels have to come out for a waterproofing project, the buyer needs to know who arranges the work and whose bill it becomes.

Imagine a Chatswood apartment advertised with a study overlooking the town centre. The strata minutes refer to an enclosure for the lot. A later engineering report recommends repairing the balconies along that side of the building. Even with an approval on file, the cost of taking the glazing out and putting it back may depend on wording the buyer has never seen.

Start With the Repair That Would Disturb the Enclosure

Under section 106 of the NSW Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, the owners corporation generally maintains and repairs common property.

The strata plan helps identify the lot boundaries, including where the balcony meets the rest of the building. The approval and any applicable registered by-law help establish how responsibilities are allocated for the alteration.

Ask for a component-by-component reading, particularly where the glazing attaches to the slab, soffit or façade.

Questions to Put to Your Conveyancer Before Exchange

• If a glazing panel cracks or a frame fails:
• Does the registered wording assign repair and replacement of the enclosure, including frames and fixings, to the lot owner?
• If the balcony membrane or drain needs work:
• Who is responsible for each affected element?
• Who investigates if water could be coming through the glazing or the balcony itself?
• If a façade or membrane repair requires the glazing to come out:
• Who grants access?
• Who arranges dismantling?
• Who pays for storage, reinstatement or making good?
• Does the by-law specify how long the enclosure can stay out?

The cost of releasing access can sit with a different party from the cost of repairing the membrane. A by-law may describe the enclosure in detail yet be silent about reinstatement.

Ask your conveyancer to flag any gap and a building specialist to assess the work required if an upcoming repair is likely to affect the glazing.

On an upper level, ask whether access equipment or temporary weather protection would be needed.

Elyment’s guide to balcony waterproofing during tile removal explains why access to the membrane can matter once repair work begins.

Trace the Approval to This Lot and the Enclosure You Can See

Start by identifying whether the enclosure was part of the original approved construction or added later.

For a later installation that changes the building’s exterior and alters common property, the current NSW major renovation pathway generally involves a special resolution of the owners corporation.

The applicable pathway for an older enclosure depends on when it was built and what work was done.

See the NSW strata renovation guidance and Marrickville Legal Centre’s strata renovations factsheet.

Ask your conveyancer to match the motion and minutes to the strata lot number, approved plans and any conditions about the glazing or fixings.

Where the approval relies on a by-law, check the current registered text and its dealing number against the version in the contract.

A minute that records a vote and a registered by-law establish different points.

Section 108 of the Act requires a by-law and the owner’s written consent to it where that resolution places ongoing common-property maintenance on the lot owner.

Where a common property rights by-law applies, the Act makes it binding on successive lot owners. Check which obligations apply to successive owners under the actual wording.

The NSW Government’s guide to strata by-laws explains where buyers can obtain the records.

Request a targeted strata records search for this lot.

Look for:

• The original application.
• Correspondence about water ingress.
• Insurer or engineer reports held by strata.
• Any proposed façade or waterproofing works.

A section 184 certificate gives prescribed scheme and lot information, including levy details. The minutes, correspondence and reports are where the history of the alteration and upcoming work can emerge.

See NSW guidance on buying a strata property and Elyment’s Sydney strata conveyancing and due diligence service.

Check What the Room Can Be Used For

Give your conveyancer the sales floor plan and explain how you intend to use the space, especially if a year-round study affects your offer.

Ask which planning or certification records are relevant to the enclosure and its intended use.

Depending on the work and its approval pathway, those records may include:

• Approved drawings.
• A development consent or complying development certificate.
• Any required occupation certificate covering the work.

The marketing label alone leaves the approved use unverified.

For a Chatswood property in the Willoughby local government area, start with Willoughby City Council’s application tracker.

Where documents are absent from the public search, ask about older Council files, records held by the seller or owners corporation, or records from the relevant certifier.

If a Building Information Certificate is produced, check the area it covers and the effect it has.

The NSW Planning Portal’s certificate guidance explains its limited protection from certain Council actions.

Resolve the Questions That Could Change Your Offer

Before exchange, ask for a written summary of what is documented, who carries each identified maintenance obligation and what remains unresolved.

If the seller says approval is being obtained, ask what has actually been passed, lodged or issued.

Where a missing record or a likely reinstatement bill would affect your decision, discuss whether to:

• Request additional documents.
• Negotiate a specific contract condition.
• Price the apartment on the basis that the space functions as a balcony.

At auction, complete that review before bidding because there is no cooling-off period for an auction purchase.

See NSW Government guidance on buying at auction.

When commissioning a Chatswood apartment contract review through Elyment’s North Shore conveyancing service, send:

• The listing plan.
• The contract.
• A photo showing how the enclosure meets the façade.
• Details of any scheduled building works.

Flag any scheduled building works and tell the reviewer whether the sunroom is material to your offer.

Review the Enclosure Before Exchange

Share the contract, floor plan and any strata correspondence for a review of the approval records, maintenance obligations and questions to resolve before purchase or future works.

Request a Property Review

Sources and References

1. NSW Government – Strata Schemes Management Act 2015
2. NSW Government – Strata Renovation Guidance
3. Marrickville Legal Centre – Strata Renovations Factsheet
4. NSW Government – Guide to Strata By-laws
5. NSW Government – Buying a Strata Property
6. Willoughby City Council – Development Application Tracker
7. NSW Planning Portal – Post-Consent Certificates
8. NSW Government – Buying Property at Auction
9. Elyment – Balcony Waterproofing During Tile Removal
10. Elyment – Sydney Strata Conveyancing and Due Diligence
11. Elyment – North Shore Conveyancing Service
12. Elyment – Contact and Property Review