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I’m about to request a mediation via Fair Trading because of failure to maintain and repair common property. I’m wondering if while there it will be the right forum to request our chairperson be removed.
This woman is the one who after 7 years of being on the EC still can’t correctly interpret common vs lot property but also does a lot of interfering when tradespeople are here looking at work.
When the SM does send a tradie to my house she insists they call her to organise a time that suits her (always in the middle of the day when she knows i am at work) and then demands a key so she can get access.
When tradie arrives ( i never give her access without me there) she talks over the top, interrupts and tries to influence his opinion on what needs to be done. she’s been doing this for 5 years and i think it’s a personal thing with me because i took them to the cttt previously and for some bizarre reason she hates me getting repairs done.
I can’t get any others owner’s onside. They won’t get involved even though everyone dislikes her. Can i request she be removed? But who do i request it to?
She always gets back on the EC because shes retired and does all the ” housekeeping” nobody else has time to do.
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Presumably she is only one member of the EC. Can you appeal to the other members?
In the ACT the strata legislation has a code of conduct for EC members. Even if NSW does not have this, you could try referring to the ACT code since it articulates reasonable principles that one could reasonably expect anywhere. Item 6 Nuisance might apply here.
ACT UT(M)A 2011
Executive committees—code of conduct
1 Understanding of Act and code
An executive member must have—
(a)a commitment to acquiring an understanding of the Act, as relevant to the member’s role on the executive committee; and
(b)a good understanding of this code.
2 Honesty and fairness
An executive member must act honestly and fairly in exercising the member’s functions as an executive member.
3 Care and diligence
An executive member must exercise reasonable care and diligence in exercising the member’s functions as an executive member.
4 Acting in owners corporation’s best interests
An executive member must act in the best interests of the owners corporation in exercising the member’s functions as an executive member, unless it is unlawful to do so.
5 Complying with Act and code
An executive member must take reasonable steps to ensure that the member complies with the Act, including this code, when exercising the member’s functions as an executive member.
6 Nuisance
An executive member must not—
(a) cause a nuisance on the land; and
(b) otherwise behave in a way that unreasonably affects a person’s lawful use or enjoyment of a unit or the common property.
7 Unconscionable conduct
An executive member must not engage in unconscionable conduct in exercising the member’s functions as an executive member.
Examples
1 improperly using the executive member’s position on the executive committee to gain, directly or indirectly, an advantage personally or for someone else
2 exerting undue influence on, or using unfair tactics against, the owner of a unit in the units plan
Note An example is part of the Act, is not exhaustive and may extend, but does not limit, the meaning of the provision in which it appears (see Legislation Act, s 126 and s 132).
8 Conflict of interest
An executive member must disclose to the executive committee any conflict of interest the member may have in a matter before the committee.
Sadly we don’t have that here in NSW. There is no code of conduct per se but Section 37 says “It is the duty of each member of a strata committee of an owners corporation to carry out his or her functions for the benefit, so far as practicable, of the owners corporation and with due care and diligence.”
In terms of removing the chair, there are three options.
The first is to put a motion to the executive committee that the position of chair be declared vacant and the strata committee should elect a new member.
Unless the majority of members of the committee feel the same as you do and there is someone prepared to take her place, the best you can hope for is that this would bring matters to a head and she might be shamed into moderating her behaviour once you have spoken to the motion at the SC meeting.
And bear in mind that even if replaced, the member would still be on the committee, just no longer as chair.
The second option is to seek a general meeting at which you get 75 percent of the votes to remove her from the committee completely. Since people keep electing her, this is unlikely to fly, regardless of how many other people she has upset.
The third option is to seek orders at NCAT under section 238(a) to remove the person from the committee or 238(c) to remove a person from office (see below).
However, to do so you would have to prove that they had failed to comply with the Act or the regulations or the by-laws of the strata scheme, or failed to exercise due care and diligence, or engaged in serious misconduct while holding the office.
That is a very tough call if you are the only person speaking against her. I would suggest talking to a couple of other members of the committee, telling them that you are at the end of your tether and that you want her brought into line before you are forced to pursue one of the above options which, regardless of the outcome, would be disruptive to the community and distressing for all involved.
238 Orders relating to strata committee and officers
(1) The Tribunal may, on its own motion or on application by an interested person, make any of the following orders:
(a) an order removing a person from a strata committee,
(c) an order removing one or more of the officers of an owners corporation from office and from the strata committee.(2) Without limiting the grounds on which the Tribunal may order the removal from office of a person, the Tribunal may remove a person if it is satisfied that the person has:
(a) failed to comply with this Act or the regulations or the by-laws of the strata scheme, or
(b) failed to exercise due care and diligence, or engaged in serious misconduct, while holding the office.If you want to be alerted when anyone replies to your posts or responds to this topic, please register and login, then you will be able to subscribe to the topic. The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers. NB: Longer threads may spill over to additional pages - look for the numbers on the bottom right, under the last post.
@JimmyT said:
Sadly we don’t have that here in NSW. There is no code of conduct per se…I wonder whether an OC in NSW could pass a resolution adopting the wording of the ACT code of conduct (or similar) as a direction to its own committee members. Then, if an EC member were behaving badly, it could be pointed out that they are in breach of the NSW Act because they are not acting as directed by a resolution of a general meeting of the OC. More importantly, it could act as a statement of principles that the OC wishes to see upheld.
Looking at your basic question about maintenance I wonder if there is any obligation to have any Committee member attend the tradesman’s inspection.
@Gus Kernot said:
Looking at your basic question about maintenance I wonder if there is any obligation to have any Committee member attend the tradesman’s inspection.If the tradesperson is doing work on the common property then yes, there should be a committee member attending to discuss the scope of the work etc. The entry to a unit should be done by reasonable negotiation with the resident and unit owner.
Of course it is then crucial that the committee member knows what is common property and what isn’t and the original poster said the committee chair fails at that task, which does complicate matters!