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I confess I am getting really cranky about this.
Resident-owner/s ask the Executive Committee to get an issue attended to. The EC say ‘you have to do it via the strata manager’ to whom everything is deferred.
You ask the strata manager politely and succinctly by phone and in writing. You hear nothing in return.
You call or email again. If you’re persistent, the strata manager may say they must run it by the executive committee. You hear nothing and nothing happens. Time and time again.
It’s like a ‘Catch-22’ station. Even issues that most of the six executive committee members would walk past several times a week, such as a broken, dangerous window. Or a missing (stolen) door knob, or carpet stained.
We’re in Sydney, 60s block of 40, in a nice suburb. Strata manager is a suburban branch of a big company. EC are self-posessed millennials.
What can we do?
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You send the committee and strata manager a letter outlinging all the areas of maintennace of common property that are not being attended to. You point out their obligations to maintain and repair common property under Section 62 of the Act (see below).
You point out that having insufficient funds to do so is not an excuse under Section 76 (4) which says if work needs to be done and they don’t have the money then they have to raise it
And you add that at the next AGM, under Section 75 of the Act (see below), they are obliged to have a proper estimate of levies for the continued upkeep of common property.
Finally, you tell them that the clock is ticking and, if they haven’t taken serious steps to remedy these issues with two months, you will seek orders at the Tribunal under Section 138 of the Act to compel them to do so or face fines from the Tribunal (for which you will not be liable).
How’s that for a plan?
62 What are the duties of an owners corporation to maintain and repair property?
(1) An owners corporation must properly maintain and keep in a state of good and serviceable repair the common property and any personal property vested in the owners corporation.
(2) An owners corporation must renew or replace any fixtures or fittings comprised in the common property and any personal property vested in the owners corporation.
75 Estimates to be prepared of contributions to administrative and sinking funds
(1) An owners corporation must … at each annual general meeting … estimate how much money it will need to credit to its administrative fund for actual and expected expenditure:
(a) to maintain in good condition on a day-to-day basis the common property and any personal property vested in the owners corporation, and
(c) to meet other recurrent expenses.
76 Owners corporation to set levy for contributions to administrative and sinking funds
(4) If the owners corporation is subsequently faced with other expenses it cannot at once meet from either fund, it must levy on each owner a contribution to the administrative fund, determined at a general meeting of the owners corporation, in order to meet the expenses.
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And then you get yourself onto the EC at the next AGM.