Buying a property with a Body Corp how am I restricted?

I am looking at purchasing the original house on what has been a very large block now subdivided and with 4 units on it plus the original house.

It has a body corporate which I have been assured is "inactive" the fees are for the insurance of the buildings only. There is no committee at all. The only common land is the main driveway which is just concrete.

My main concerns are that we want to make alot of changes (things such as an addition, rendering the front fence to make it appear separate to the units, moving the fence so it sits on our actual boundaries etc)

What I am worried about is having to get approval for these changes. Having lived with active BC before I would rather be somewhere I can do as I please as long as I follow council guidelines etc.

On the class of policy it says Strata so I assume the block is strata titled and I am not even sure if this restricts us in some way.

Is anyone able to shed light on this? I have the Sect 32 so can provide further info if it will help.

Thanks
 
I'm not sure about other jurisdictions, but in Queensland there is a Body Corporate Comissioner who according to their website performs the following role:

The role of the Office of the Commissioner of Body Corporate and Community Management is to assist people who live, work or invest in community titles schemes in accordance with the powers conferred on it by the (the BCCM Act).

I'm sure there will be something similar in Vic.

Even if the scheme is "inactive" there would still be a set of bylaws that were put in place when it was established. Try to get a copy of these.. I know in Queensland they are recorded at the Titles Office and linked to the parcels.

Hope this helps.
 
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