Thanks for all for your encouragement. Particularly whale. I squared my shoulders, took a deep breath and faced the EC and SM at the meeting.
The SM noted my two proxies. The SM said that if 25% of the owners did not agree to the SBL the vote could not happen.
I said “we do not agree” – all hell broke loose.
The sec. said “but you said you would pay” and I said “only if you delete para (g) & (i) but in the meantime I have decided to get legal opinion.
“you have come to the meeting unprepared” “Yes”
The SM tried his usual scaremongering and emphatic style of speech.
“Do you realise Janet that this will go to NCAT and they will order the ladder put back, do you want to lose your stairs and the other owners to lose their stairs”
I said “The stairs are not illegal, you have the email from the Building Surveyor stating that the stairs were part of the development”
The SM said “I will swear in a court of law that the council meant ladders.”
The Treasurer said “There was no need to make an issue of the upstairs floor in my villa as there was nothing wrong with it”. (he has stairs)
I turned to the secretary and said. “You were there with the engineer last year, what did you see”
The Sec said “There was a large sag noticeable on the string line”
The Treas. said “How large a sag”
The SM interrupted this line of talk.
A com member asked “What is you don’t like about the proposal”
I said “Everything. Why do I have to pay? Why all this stuff about DA and council approval. It is not necessary. It is a repair. Council need not be involved at all. And besides, the floor upstairs is substandard. Read you own engineer’s report”. “My stairs are too steep and the beams on the floor are too far apart”
The Treas. who is a retired architect then went into a longwinded explanation about the depth of risers etc. I guess he was trying to indicate it would maybe pass council.
At this point the meeting started to disintegrate.
The Sec lost his temper, yelling “You are the problem in this strata, it is always you, you have cost us $5000 in legal fees, so much of our time etc”
(the $5000 would be what they paid the solicitor to respond to our submission for a compulsory manager, plus the cost to draw up the SBL, it is madness that they paid the solicitor to do the response so that the SM could keep his job)
I said “So, you instructed the solicitor to draw up this document, why wasn’t I included, why don’t you involve owners in your decisions, it affects all of us”
The Sec. said “We are the EC and we decide what needs to be done. As far as raising a Special Levy (to top up the Admin Fund) WE WILL RAISE THE LEVIES UP if you are not careful” (The EC had already raised the levies at the AGM last years. My levies are $1015, a rise of 19%)
The Chairman, (who is a very loose cannon said to SM) “You are being too kind to her, it,” repeating this twice. Yelling.
I said “why are you doing this SBL jointly. Why I am I involved in other owners stairs”.
Silence
Finally the SM said “well, the owners can apply for this SBL individually”
I said “Fine, let them do that”
I said “we will not agree to this proposal in it’s present form.
The SM wanted to adjourn the meeting so that our lack of vote was not recorded.
The loose cannon said “Fine, let’s wait until the AGM (that would be August) he said this a number of times.
Various comments about a waste of time, the effort of attending another meeting. The SM said he would not charge us for the 20 minutes.
I was calm throughout the meeting as I do not raise my voice, ever, or get into a slanging match.
This is the first time on any issue that we have had a say. In all other instances the EC have the majority. They voted themselves in and there they stay.
So the scaffolding will be there for some time.
I have contacted a strata lawyer.
Time for a holiday.
Janet