The Court held that an owners corporation breached its absolute duty under s 62(2) of the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 by failing to provide sufficient exhaust ventilation capacity to service a lot owner's reasonable needs, even though the system was physically operational and not in disrepair — the duty to 'renew or replace' is triggered where a discrete service system in common property is operating inadequately or is incapable of servicing all lots. The Court further held that s 65A (improving or enhancing common property) does not limit s 62 obligations: a s 65A special resolution is a sufficient but not necessary condition for works that improve common property, so works mandated by s 62(2) need no s 65A authorisation. The s 62(3) special resolution purporting to exempt the exhaust system from the s 62 duty was declared invalid for failure to comply with the statutory preconditions, as the owners corporation lacked a proper basis for determining the renewal was 'inappropriate' and that safety would not be affected.
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