@Costa said:
Surely something can be done about that, but what? It seems strata managers and executive committees can manipulate things dishonestly at will with no consequences.
At the risk of stating the obvious, the simplest way to remedy this is to have a clear-out of your executive committee and take back control of your building. Admittedly, you will need a 75 percent vote to dismiss the entire EC (or any individual member) before your next AGM but it’s amazing how activated owners can suddenly become when they discover that their money is being wasted on individuals’ pet projects.
Your other option would be to go to NCAT and ask for orders declaring the decision to go ahead with the work invalid (so that those who approved it would have to pay) but I think that may be a long shot.
Or you could go for the appointment of a strata manager but I suspect that the issues in your building are not serious enough to get that over the line and, in any case, that often backfires when the statutory manager starts doing everything by the book.
How about writing to all owners telling them what is going on and asking why your scheme has a secretary who never communicates with anyone (when that is basically their only function).
Put pressure on your other EC members to remove the secretary from that role (which only requires a majority vote at the EC) and generally make life uncomfortable for all those who clearly prefer to do nothing. Make your EC accountable by writing to individual members on behalf of the other owners.
In effect, what you want to do is set up an Opposition or “EC in Exile”, if you like, so that by the time the next AGM rolls around, the owners have a clear alternative.
A word of caution, though. However hard it is, you must do your utmost to avoid making this personal. Complain about the office, not the office-bearer, the systems and not the people who run them and the committee, not the committee members.
The easiest way for rusted-on committee members to keep their jobs is to characterise you as an individual troublemaker and dismiss your complaints as the unfounded rantings of a lone voice with a personal grudge.
The more people you can get onside, the better. And the less you alarm your other owners in the way you go about things, the more effective your campaign will be.