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Dee Why NSW 2099

Exclusive-use areas in Dee Why buildings that sit on common property

A courtyard is used by one business, maintained by nobody in particular, and technically part of the common property every owner funds. Areas like that exist in most Dee Why schemes and they are the single most common source of confusion about who cleans what.

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In short

Exclusive-use areas are parts of the common property that a particular lot has the benefit of, typically a courtyard, terrace, storage area or car space. The area still belongs to the scheme, but the arrangement recorded in the scheme's own records usually determines who maintains it.

Clean Best asks whether such arrangements exist before quoting, because they change who the client is for that area. The scope then states which exclusive-use areas are included, who funds them, and what is deliberately left out. Nothing about the appearance of such an area indicates which arrangement applies to it.

Owned by the scheme, used by one lot

Exclusive-use arrangements sit awkwardly between the two categories everyone understands. The land or space is common property, so the scheme retains an interest in it, but a single lot has the use of it and often the obligation to look after it. Whether cleaning falls to the scheme or the lot depends on what the scheme's own records actually say. Very few owners have read the records that would tell them which applies to their own space.

This is not something to work out from the layout. The strata managing agent or the committee should be asked to confirm the position before anyone quotes, because getting it wrong means either the scheme funds one owner's private area or an owner is left with a space nobody is servicing. Both outcomes surface eventually, usually at a budget meeting or a sale. Neither is easy to unwind once several years of practice have built up around it.

The areas that most often turn out to be exclusive use

Courtyards attached to a ground-floor tenancy, terraces off an upper suite, storage areas under a stair, car spaces and occasionally a section of corridor are the usual candidates. From a cleaner's point of view they look like any other part of the building, which is exactly why they end up either double-covered or missed entirely. Both errors survive for years because nobody has a reason to check.

Listing them explicitly in the scope solves it permanently. Each area is named, its status is recorded, and the party funding it is identified. That single page saves a great deal of argument later, and it is equally useful to an incoming committee, an incoming contractor or an owner trying to work out why a space they use has never been serviced. It is the sort of document that pays for itself the first time the committee changes.

When the lot wants it serviced and the scheme does not fund it

Where the arrangement leaves maintenance with the lot, the occupier can engage a contractor directly for that area. It is still common property, so it is worth confirming with the committee that the work and any access involved is acceptable, particularly where equipment, water or waste is involved and other owners may notice. A short note to the committee usually settles it and avoids a complaint from a neighbouring lot.

Clean Best quotes those areas to the party responsible for them rather than assuming the scheme will pay. Where an owner and the scheme both want work done in the same space, the two are kept on separate lines so nobody is funding something they did not agree to and the position stays legible at the next review. That way an owner is never surprised to find they have been funding something the scheme was handling, or the reverse.

Exclusive-use checks for a Dee Why scheme

  • A list of exclusive-use areas confirmed with the agent
  • The maintaining party identified for each area
  • Courtyards, terraces and storage areas named individually
  • Scheme-funded and lot-funded work on separate lines
  • Committee awareness of any lot-arranged work on the area
  • The list attached to the scope for the next contractor
Clean Best supervisor reviewing office and strata cleaning quality in Parramatta NSW

Working in Dee Why and the Northern Beaches

Dee Why on the Northern Beaches holds retail, hospitality, healthcare and mixed-use buildings, with a centre where ground-floor tenancies frequently have courtyards, terraces or outdoor seating attached to them. Areas of that kind are often exclusive-use portions of common property rather than part of the lot itself, which changes who maintains them and who pays. Nothing about the way they look tells anyone which arrangement applies. Clean Best services Dee Why from Seven Hills and confirms the position with the committee or strata managing agent before quoting.

Questions about Dee Why

What is an exclusive-use area?

Broadly, a part of the common property that a particular lot has the benefit of using, such as a courtyard, terrace or storage area. The scheme still owns it, but the arrangement recorded in the scheme's own records usually sets out who maintains it. The strata managing agent or the committee is the right party to confirm the position for any specific area.

Who cleans a courtyard attached to our tenancy?

It depends on what the scheme's records say about that area. In many cases the obligation sits with the lot that has the use of it, which means the occupier arranges and funds the cleaning. In others the scheme retains it. Because it varies, it is worth confirming rather than assuming from how the space is used day to day.

Can we arrange our own cleaning for that area?

Usually yes where the maintenance obligation sits with the lot, though it remains common property so it is sensible to let the committee know, particularly if equipment, water or waste is involved. Clean Best quotes such areas to the party responsible rather than to the scheme, keeping the funding position clear in the paperwork. It also avoids a later argument about whether the scheme approved the work.

Why was our terrace never included in the building's cleaning?

Most likely because it is an exclusive-use area whose maintenance sits with the lot rather than the scheme, and nobody explained that when the arrangement was made. Listing these areas in the scope with their status recorded prevents the same gap recurring when the contractor or the committee changes. Committees often find several such areas once they start looking, which is usually worth the exercise on its own.

Should exclusive-use areas be listed in the cleaning scope?

Yes, even the ones that are excluded. Naming an area and stating that it is not included is far more useful than leaving it unmentioned, because it tells an incoming committee and any future contractor that the question was considered. It also prevents an owner assuming for years that a space is covered when it never was.

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