Lift Maintenance and Registration

Lifts in strata

Lifts are critical infrastructure for strata schemes. Any outage will create serious difficulties for residents, particularly those with mobility challenges, and the responsibility for repairing and maintaining lifts is a key one for owners corporations.

Repairs and maintenance

First and foremost, the annual levies budget should provide adequately for both regular and unscheduled maintenance by a contractor who is fully qualified and accredited to service the specific make and model of lift. Your accredited Strata+ manager and, where applicable, building manager can advise on this.

Any issues with the lift should be reported immediately to the maintenance contractor either through your building manager or direct to the contractor. Appropriate signage should be place in or near the lift.

Emergency telephone

All lifts are required to have a working emergency telephone system installed. The cost of this is included in your annual levies budget. The phasing out of telephone landlines with the transition to NBN meant than many of these systems needed to be upgraded to mobile technology to ensure they kept working. It is a good idea to confirm that yours has been upgraded.

Annual registration

As lifts can represent a significant safety hazard, they must be registered annually with SafeWork NSW.

Replacement

A well-maintained lift should continue to work efficiently for at least 20 years, but replacement is expensive, and owners should start budgeting for an upgrade in your Capital Works Plan well in advance. It is important to consider not only the direct costs of a new lift but any associated costs. For example, where a building has a single lift there may be a need for temporary accommodation for residents unable to use stairs while the work is carried out.

The future of lifts

When the time comes to replace your lift, you may be pleasantly surprised at how much technology has evolved. Smart lifts are revolutionising the way we move within buildings, incorporate cutting-edge technology, such as artificial intelligence, digital connectivity and advanced sensors to enhance efficiency, security, and user experience. They can analyse traffic patterns, optimise energy consumption, and provide personalised services to passengers with features like touchless controls, voice recognition, and destination dispatch systems.

Sustainability

Lifts are big power consumers and the latest designs have also come a long way in reducing running costs and environmental impact. Advances include energy-efficient technologies, such as regenerative drives and LED lighting as well as lightweight materials and innovative engineering to reduce overall weight.

Last updated: June 2023