Common property and lot boundaries in a Waterloo cleaning quote

Common property is defined by the strata plan, and it frequently does not match intuition. The corridor is common; the inside face of a lot door usually is not. A balcony may be common property with exclusive use, or part of the lot, depending on the plan. Car space cleaning may be common in the aisles and lot property in the bays themselves. Reading the plan takes a few minutes and settles questions that otherwise recur at every committee meeting.

That matters because a cleaning contractor engaged by the owners corporation cannot work inside a lot at the corporation's expense. Including such areas creates an issue for the strata manager rather than for the cleaner. Establishing the boundary from the plan before scoping avoids writing a document that cannot properly be funded from levies. It also protects the committee, since an expense outside common property is difficult to justify to owners.

Lot entry doors and their surrounds are first. The corridor side is generally common and the lot side is not, which means door faces may need different treatment on each side. Balconies and courtyards are second, particularly where exclusive use by-laws apply, since the maintenance obligation may sit with the lot owner even where the area is technically common property. Recording the decision for each door element means a relief cleaner does not have to work it out.

Car parking is third. Aisles, ramps and visitor bays are usually common; allocated bays are frequently lot property or subject to exclusive use. A cleaning scope that includes a general sweep of the car park needs to say which parts, otherwise the contractor either sweeps areas they should not or leaves bays that owners expected to be included. Confirming the position with the strata manager before scoping avoids the question arising after the first invoice.

List the areas by name and mark each as common property. Where an area has exclusive use attached, note it, since that affects who is responsible even where the cleaning is performed under the common arrangement. Where the status is genuinely unclear, name it as an assumption in the document rather than including it silently and creating a problem for whoever approves the invoice. A short marked-up plan attached to the scope is worth more than several paragraphs of description.

It is also worth stating what the contractor will not do inside a lot, even at an owner's request. Cleaners are regularly asked by residents to attend to something inside a lot, and without a clear position they are placed in an awkward situation. A single line in the scope, communicated to the building, resolves it for everyone. It also gives the cleaner something to point to rather than declining a resident request on their own judgement.