… can the committee and/or owners corporation do this anyway without a by-law since it is altering common property?
Section 108 of the NSW strata Act says “an owners corporation or an owner of a lot in a strata scheme may … alter the common property … for the purpose of improving or enhancing the common property” but “any such action may be taken … only if a special resolution has first been passed by the owners corporation that specifically authorises the taking of the particular action proposed.”
Does that cover effectively closing the pool or at the very least changing the conditions of the pool to make it a lot less of an attractive option?
I really can’t say for sure but I’d say there’s enough of a grey area there for any owner who strongly objects to take the issue to a Tribunal and possibly even get interim orders to prevent it until the issue is resolved (which would effectively prevent it from going ahead this year, at least).
And that’s when the committee must decide, if they don’t get at least 75 percent voting in favour, whether the savings aren’t outweighed by the cost of fighting and winning.
But I’d be really interested to hear from Flatchatters who’ve been in similar situations where cost-saving changes to common property were challenged at the Tribunal.