Thanks Scotty.
I was looking at the wrong section which, at the risk of labouring the point, illustrates how citing a section of the Act then demanding an answer to a vague question is not helpful to anyone.
The section referred to actually says this:
(3) Order may be made without application in certain circumstances
An Adjudicator may make an order under this section, without an application having been made for the order, but only if satisfied that the management structure of a strata scheme the subject of an application under this Chapter is not functioning or is not functioning satisfactorily.
And to add to what Scotty said, what this means is that if an adjudicator, in assessing an application for something entirely different, realises that a strata scheme is seriously dysfunctional, they can use their own judgement to decide it merits the statutory appointment of a strata manager to sort things out.
Bearing in mind that the adjudicator can set different parameters for different situations – it could be for a specific period or limit their control to certain areas like finances or repair and maintenance – this is not necessarily a complete takeover of the running of the Owners Corp.
That said, if the situation had reached such a critical stage as to demand a statutory appointment where one wasn’t requested, I reckon the adjudicator would just give a strata manager full control.
And on a side issue, this is something all Owners Corps and Executive Committees should be aware of. Once a strata manager is appointed, especially one given full control of your scheme, you are gone. At best you are just a group of owners with no powers beyond those given to individual owners under the Act.
You have no say in the running of your building (because you have shown yourself incapable of doing so) and, in all likelihood, all your bad decisions will come back to bite you on the bum.
And it’s even worse that it sounds. If you have neglected to repair and maintain common property, the strata manager has a duty to do so and do so properly. That means that cost is a secondary consideration to having the work done to the best professional standards – because the Strata Manager has a legal obligation to get it done properly (and no financial restraint).
So consider that the next time you put off repairs and consign your sinking fund assessment to the ‘too hard’ basket in a deluded attempt to keep levies low to ensure your re-election at the next agm.
The nicest, friendliest, most accommodating strata manager in the world still has a professional duty to perform and if that requires making decisions about levies and work required, they have a legal obligation to do whatever is required under the Act which supersedes any consideration about what the majority of owners want.
In most cases, the statutory strata manager just stops listening to the former members of a failed EC – why would they do otherwise – and gets on with the job.