Lot owners — not the strata company — generally bear the cost of rectifying non-compliant alterations within their own lot, even where the alteration was made by a previous owner decades earlier.
In The Owners of Kingsway Gardens (Strata Scheme 4) and Wilkinson [2026] WASAT 94, the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) considered a dispute over an enclosed balcony in one of Perth’s oldest strata schemes. The particular question was: Who is responsible for making the balcony compliant with current fire-safety standards?
Kingsway Gardens is a 75-lot strata scheme in West Perth, registered in 1968. A fire-compliance review identified 37 non-compliant balconies across the scheme. All owners except Mr and Mrs Wilkinson, the owners of Lot 9, either rectified their balcony or gave an undertaking to do so. The strata company applied to SAT seeking orders requiring Mr and Mrs Wilkinson to bring their balcony into compliance with the National Construction Code (NCC), or reinstate it to its original condition, at their own cost.
Mr and Mrs Wilkinson argued that the strata company should bear those costs, relying on an email in which the strata company insurance broker told the insurer that the “council” had agreed to pay for the rectification work. SAT rejected this argument, finding that this representation was conditional on the insurer agreeing to renew cover — not an unconditional promise to pay.
The SAT found that:
· the balcony (and its enclosure) sits wholly within the boundary of Lot 9, and is not common property;
· despite extensive searches going back to 2016, no building licence or approval could be found for the balcony’s enclosure, which was built by a previous owner sometime between 1968 and 2015;
· without that approval, the alteration is “unauthorised work” under the Building Act 2011 (WA), meaning it must now meet current NCC fire-separation requirements rather than the lesser standards in force when the work was actually done; and
· because the balcony forms part of the lot rather than common property, the strata company has no power — and no obligation — to fund the rectification work. That cost falls on the current lot owners.
SAT ordered Mr and Mrs Wilkinson to reinstate the balcony to its original condition within 90 days, at their own cost, including obtaining any necessary approvals from the City of Perth.
The key takeaway: liability for non-compliant work within a lot follows the lot, not the person who caused it or the strata company — a current owner can be left to fix and fund a defect they didn’t create, and informal assurances to an insurer won’t easily shift that burden elsewhere.
If you need advice or assistance in respect of strata company balcony compliance, insurance obligations, or SAT proceedings, please do not hesitate to contact the team at our Perth office.
This article was first published on 26 August 2026 and was written by Ray Santos, Lawyer in our Perth office.
© Bugden Allen Group Legal Pty Ltd. This is general information only and not legal advice. You should not rely on this information without seeking legal advice tailored to your specific circumstances.
