What is a Building Warrant of Fitness?

Summary:

A building Warrant of Fitness ensures the building is up to standard where shared amenities area and in sound working order in your apartment building.

A lot of people are not aware that every apartment complex has to get a Warrant of Fitness. Just like your car, if it has got any systems that need to be in working order it means it has to have a Warrant of Fitness each year.

It is the owner of the building which is all the apartment owners or the Body Corporate. It is their responsibility to make sure this is done each year and any maintenance needed is addressed promptly.

This is to comply to the local authority, which is the council and needs to be displayed in the building. You will usually see it in a common area like a foyer.

The person who issues the ‘warrant’ is commonly called an I.Q.P. an Independently Qualified Person.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Good day, this is Andrew Murray from Apartment Specialists. A lot of people are not aware that every apartment complex has to get a Warrant of Fitness. Just like your car, if it has got any systems that need to be in working order. It means it has to have a Warrant of Fitness each year. It is the owner of the building which is all the apartment's owners or the body corporate, The body corporate is responsible to get a Warrant of Fitness every year.

This is to comply to the local authority, which is the council and also display it in the building. When you look in the apartment, you may see a Warrant of Fitness in the corner. It is usually in a frame and it will be something like this. For an example, this is one would be in the Citta Complex. You can see there is the address. You will see the basic details of the building and you will know when it was first constructed.

Basically, a single dwelling does not need a Building Warrant of Fitness, but if it has certain systems in place. Like when it is dealing with multi-unit dwellings. It needs to be indicated in a Warrant of Fitness. Does the building has  automatic doors, sprinkler systems, or things like that? Does the building has a security system that are reliant on making sure that everybody is safe inside?

You can see it there if you have got automatic sprinkler systems, manual emergency warning systems, access controlled doors  and  so on. Obviously, passenger lifts. Having a lift means you are obviously going to need a Warrant of Fitness. So, it is important that the Body Corporate realises or the Owners' Committee or as an owner, you realise that you are important. It is your responsibility to make sure that the building is up to standard so get its Warrant of Fitness. And that is displayed in the building and just like a car, if it fails, you have got to get it fixed. It iss pretty simple.

Here is another example, it is a one-pager and a Building Warrant of Fitness is, here is actually the person who inspects it. It is commonly called an I.Q.P., which is an Independently Qualified Person. Pretty self-explanatory really.

Anyway, I hope that helps. Andrew Murray,  Apartments Specialists.

Cheers, bye.