Can I Install Awning At The Patio Area Of My Condo?

Singapore is the optimal choice for people who are looking for the perfect balance between a successful and satisfying career and a secure, high quality living experience for the family. One of the most crucial aspects of preserving your quality of life is to take care of your condo in Singapore. Your home is where your heart is. When you spend time in your house, you want to feel relaxed, secure, and good about yourself.

The Patio – The Fun Zone in your Condo
When you have a high pressure job that has you pushing for eight to ten hours a day, there’s nothing like winding down and spending time with your family and friends whenever you have the time. What better place to hang out with your loved ones for a barbecue party than your own patio? What makes your patio so special?
· The patio can be the fun zone of your home.
· It gives you a break from being cooped up indoors
· It provides the opportunity to enjoy your outdoors with your loved ones.

However, a patio becomes fully resourceful only when you have a patio cover or awning covering it. Why?
· This helps you to enjoy your condo patio space in any weather.
· You also don’t have to worry about your patio furniture sustaining damage from the elements. You can forget about the trouble of having to drag them in and out whenever it rains.
· In essence, the patio cover can prove to be a great value addition to your condo as it basically increases your living space at a remarkably low cost.
· Awnings are the most preferred means of covering your patio.

What are Awnings?
· Awnings are also popularly known as overhangs.
· Technically, any secondary structure fixed to the exterior building walls to cover an outdoor area around the building can be called an awning.
· Awnings are a great investment to your property and it helps to enhance the overall aesthetic value of your home.
· They have been around for centuries, and are nothing new. There are records of the ancient Egyptians using them.
· Apart from covering your patio, awnings are used extensively as a viable commercial and practical solution for various requirements. For example, they are used to cover driveways, doors, windows, decks, and other areas that are originally unsheltered.

Awnings are today available in a wide variety of textures and designs to fit your requirement. You can find them fashioned from materials like canvas, polyester, cotton, vinyl, and various other synthetic textures. They are generally spread out tightly over a frame of some metal to provide the required support.


Benefits of Installing an Awning for your Patio
So, why do you really need an awning for your patio? The benefits are manifold. Let’s just focus on the basics for now:
· Protection for your patio
· Lower utility bills
· Increased living space
· Enhanced aesthetic value

Installing Awning in your Condo
Most condominiums in a complex have a patio that can be transformed into a highly resourceful space for gatherings or just personal entertainment provided you implement the renovation process in the right way. Installing an awning is probably one of the most cost effective and convenient ways to do this. However, unlike an independent house owner, a condominium owner has a lot to think and discuss prior to actually implementing any kind of construction adjacent to home. Any construction or renovation work performed on your condo needs to be compliant with the rules and regulations set forth by the condo complex association.

Although there are no hard and fast rules for a condo complex, the most commonly regulated aspects include:
· Ascertaining ownership of the condo/apartment
· Regulations about allotting exterior spaces such as driveways, gardens, etc
· Restrictions pertaining to utilization of common spaces
· Rules pertaining to construction work or alterations to condo structures
· Regulations regarding decorating the condo and surrounding spaces
· Rules pertaining to waste disposal and recycling

The condo association has a legal obligation to take care of the exterior walls and spaces of the condo complex in its entirety. This is why as a condo owner you will be required to obtain written permission from the condo association or board of directors prior to the installation of your awning.


What Does the Association Control?
The association has the right to set a stipulated quality for your awning and the area where you can install it, and may lay out various other technical specifications that you will need to adhere to if you are planning on setting up an awning for your patio. Some of these stipulations may include:
· Where you can install the awning
· Design aspects such as frame, fabric, or color that can be used for your awning
· Implementation of installation process

The rules and regulations that a condo complex association imposes are generally aimed at maintaining a certain level of uniformity and standard in awning installation throughout the complex. This will be required as the association is responsible for maintaining the overall aesthetic appeal of the complex.

The Application Process
To gain approval for your awning installation, you will be required to submit a written application or proposal for the same addressed to the board of directors of the complex. The board takes your proposal into consideration and approves it once it is established that all stipulated specifications and rules regarding awning installation have been complied with completely. The proposal has legal value and so in this document, you need to establish that:
· You are the owner of the condominium
· You will be bearing the full cost of installation and consequent maintenance costs as well
· You will be responsible for any negative consequences arising directly or indirectly from the installation of the awning outside your condominium.
· Pay wall restoration costs in the scenario that you decide to take down the awning
· You will take up the responsibility of educating future owners of your condo about the responsibilities of maintaining the awning

Once you have acquired the permission from your condo complex association, you can send out an application to the Building Authority of Singapore. Following approval, you can finally hire a reputed awning provider to execute the installation of your awning. If the awning installed on your condo patio has a horizontal projection that goes beyond 140 mm will need a permit from the Commissioner of Building Control

So, now you have a fair idea of what goes into installing an awning for your condo patio in Singapore.