The strata managers sound as if they are in breach of their professional Code of Conduct. At the very least, these five basic principles:
1.3 DUTIES OF ALL MEMBERS
All Members must at all times:
i. Act ethically.
ii. Act honestly, be straightforward and sincere.
iii. Not provide false, misleading or deceptive information.
iv. Be objective, fair and not allow prejudice or bias to override that objectivity.
v. Be and appear to be free of any interest, which might be regarded as being
incompatible with integrity and objectivity.
Sadly, though, you can’t make a complaint through the SCA about your strata manager being in cahoots with the committee since they will only accept complaints from committees. Nice “get out of jail free” card the strata managers have written for themselves.
In your shoes, I would still take a complaint against the strata manager at Fair Trading for deliberately offering misleading and erroneous legal advice. That will fire a shot across their bows and the very least and might be useful if you decide to go to NCAT and ask the Tribunal not to adjust the UEs in a way that hands total control to this one family.
I might even write a column about this in the AFR – no names, no pack drill, of course – see what that stirs up.