As we often point out on this website, there are no StrataKops patrolling our high-rises, waiting to pounce on anyone who infringes the law or by-laws.
In fact, there are very few strata laws that carry penalties for specific breaches and even then they are routinely ignored. In terms of owners, you can be fined for not registering a new tenant (Maximum $550) or for not giving your tenants a copy of the by-laws ( max $110). Hardly anyone obeys these rules but even if you could prove it you would have to take the owner to NCAT to have the fines imposed.
At the end of the day, whether there are specific penalties or not, you either have to persuade enough other owners to get rid of your committee or you have to get NCAT to either order the committee to act properly or have them replaced by a strata manager (and that’s a whole other can of worms).
The easiest way to get rid of a bad committee is to get your fellow owners onside by persuading them that your committee is costing them money, either through excessive or unnecessary expenditure, or through allowing the value of the property to be eroded through neglect.
Challenging them on a point of principle simply isn’t going to fly for the simple reason that nobody cares.
In fact, the hardest thing to do is to change the committee by being a pain in the backside over technical breaches that no one else cares about. As soon as you set off down that road, the committee will point at you and say “look, this owner is just being a pain in the backside … and here’s the proof.”
Let’s for example take an AGM where someone who should have voted is wrongly not allowed to vote (because they are against the powers that be). You can apply to have the vote overturned but only if that blocked vote would have made a difference to the outcome and if you challenge it withing 28 days.
Just as examples, have a look at sections 153 and 154 (below) – there are so many avenues there, and in other aspects of the Act, that allow adjudicators to refuse to take action, one of them being that they don’t consider anyone was adversely affected.
This puts the onus back on you to effect the change within the Owners Corporation or, as they say, suck it up. If you take the former choice, my advice would be to not make it personal, be utterly sure of your ground and make sure you have the numbers before you do anything drastic.
One weapon is communication – a little website or newsletter that provides information, asks questions and, importantly, provides answers can go a long way to effecting change.
153 Order invalidating resolution of owners corporation
(1) An Adjudicator may make an order invalidating any resolution of, or election held by, the persons present at a meeting of an owners corporation if the Adjudicator considers that the provisions of this Act have not been complied with in relation to the meeting.
(2) An Adjudicator may refuse to make an order under this section but only if the Adjudicator considers:
(a) that the failure to comply with the provisions of this Act did not adversely affect any person, and
(b) that compliance with the provisions of this Act would not have resulted in a failure to pass the resolution or have affected the result of the election.
(3) An application for an order under this section may be made only by an owner or first mortgagee of a lot.
154 Order where voting rights denied or due notice of item of business not given
(1) An Adjudicator may order that a resolution passed at a general meeting of an owners corporation be treated as a nullity on and from the date of the order if satisfied that the resolution would not have been passed but for the fact that the applicant for the order:
(a) was improperly denied a vote on the motion for the resolution, or
(b) was not given due notice of the item of business in relation to which the resolution was passed.
(2) An application for an order under this section may not be made after 28 days after the date of the meeting at which the resolution was passed.
(3) If an order under this section is made in relation to a resolution making a by-law or amending or repealing another by-law and the order has been recorded as provided by section 209, the by-laws have force and effect on and from the date the order is so recorded to the same extent as they would have had if the resolution had not been passed.
(4) Subsection (3) is subject to the by-laws having been or being amended or repealed in accordance with this Act and to any relevant order made by a superior court.
(5) An application for an order under this section may be made only by a person entitled to vote on the motion for the resolution concerned.