Do you live in an apartment and want to swap car spaces with another owner?

A strata scheme is a building or collection of buildings that have been separated into lots. These lots are typically known as apartments, units or town houses.

In a strata scheme, lots are often allocated a car space which is identified on the strata plan as belonging to the lot.  In some instances, a lot owner may wish to swap car spaces with another lot owner. In order to formally achieve a “swap” there are several formal steps which must be undertaken by the lot owners and the Owners Corporation.  These are detailed below in the context of a practical example.

Example

There are four apartments in a strata scheme and each lot has its own car space. These car spaces form part of each respective lot.  The owners of two lots (lots 1 and 2) wish to swap ownership of their respective car spaces.

The steps that they will be required to follow are:

1. A registered surveyor will prepare a strata plan of subdivision to create two new lots (which will be lot 5 and lot 6).
   • Lot 5 will be former lot 1 excluding its car space and including the car space of former lot 2.
   • Lot 6 will be former lot 2 excluding its car space and including the car space of the former lot 1.
2. The proposed strata plan of subdivision must be approved in writing by each of the following parties:
   • The Council or an Accredited Certifier.
   • The owners of the affected lots (in the case lots 1 and 2).
   • Any party with a registered interest in the affected lots such as a mortgagee or caveators.
3. The strata plan of subdivision is lodged for registration at NSW Land Registry Services (NSW LRS) together with:
   • The certificate of title for the Common Property and for each of the affected lots.
   • A certificate from the Owner’s Corporation is required to be lodged in conjunction with the new strata plan if the lots are still owned by the original developer. The certificate must certify that either
     • The initial period has expired; or
     • The original developer still owns all of the lots in the strata scheme
4. Upon registration of the new plan of subdivision, the car spaces will form part of the relevant lot. However, the registration of the plan does not resolve the ownership of the car spaces and an additional step is required to be taken which is the registration of transfers from each of the lot owners of their former car spaces.  These transfers should be lodged with the strata plan of subdivision.  The transfers are required to be marked by Revenue NSW prior to lodgment.
5. Any mortgages on the prior titles also need to be addressed by the respective mortgagees.  This is typically dealt with by the mortgagee at the time they consent to and produce the certificate of title for the lot at NSW LRS for registration of the strata plan of subdivision.

If you need any advice on applying for a strata plan of subdivision or any other property law matter, you can contact the team and we will be happy to be of assistance!