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I joined a Strata Committee in NSW in July last year. I am at loggerheads with the Committee because they are hiding and ignoring water leak issues which for some owners for 4 -6 years.
For important Committee votes the Secretary has introduced electronic voting to avoid discussion (at least with me), and is not advising Committee members of how many votes were cast, how many were in favour and how many were against, or how individual members voted.
Is there any requirement in the legislation for this information to be disclosed to the other Committee members?
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Strata committees are very much left to run their meetings and votes as they see fit, but there a plenty of ways to force them to change if they’re not doing the right thing.
The most obvious option is to present a motion to the committee itself, saying that all votes, including who voted for what, should be notified to the committee members.
If that fails, you put the same motion on the agenda of your next AGM. If the secretary and or chair baulks at that, there are mechanisms available for removing them from the committee either by a majority vote of owners or via the Tribunal.
Meanwhile, you might consider putting a motion to your next AGM that the committee reveals the number of outstanding issues with water leaks and declare what they plan to do about them.
You won’t make yourself very popular but it sounds like that ship may already have sailed.
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If that fails, you put the same motion on the agenda of your next AGM. If the secretary and or chair baulks at that, there are mechanisms available for removing them from the committee either by a majority vote of owners or via the Tribunal.
LOL to the max at the idea that such a thing would be grounds for a s 238 order.
For those who haven’t been keeping up. In the real world NCAT view s 238 like they do s 237 so you need some serious dysfunction before the Tribunal would intervene.Witch Hunt.
“The most obvious option is to present a motion to the committee itself, saying that all votes, including who voted for what, should be notified to the committee members.”I didn’t see that coming so not overly obvious.
If the secretary is part of the problem then do realize the secretary has no obligation to include such a motion on the agenda. Also take onboard that as much as the SC has a impressive degree of flexibility in how it handles its affairs how does one enforce this “policy” should the motion find its way onto an agenda and get majority approval?If the secretary is part of the problem then do realize the secretary has no obligation to include such a motion on the agenda.
No legal obligation, perhaps, but it would be part of an accumulation of evidence that secretary on any other office bearer or the whole damned committee is not acting in good faith or in the best interests of the strata scheme. You build a case by showing a pattern of behaviour, that way no single incident is judged in isolation, where the letter of the law prevails over action and intent.
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I think there is a bit of a misunderstanding that discussions at a strata committee count. Of course, in a well run strata building, the owners are engaged with finding the best way to fix problems. But strata committees (and the owners corporation they represent) are governed by motions put to the meeting in the published agenda, the voting outcome, and the minutes published afterwards that disclose the result of the voting.
The agenda and minutes are published and circulated to all owners, and are also part of the “strata search” that sensible prospective buyers will obtain before purchasing in the building. If you building is not running this way, then it is in trouble, and not following strata law, which is a while other issue.
So you have to make your case in the agenda, by submitting a detailed motion to the SC. Then at the meeting, make your case and vote in favour. You have to set out the water proofing issues, as you understand them, making sure you don’t speculate, and are accurate. If the problems are uncertain, then you also can put a motion in the Agenda to investigate and report back. If the strata committee majority don’t support you, then you put the same motions (or versions improved from seeing the response the committee takes) to the Annual General Meeting. Also, put a motion on the agenda, if your concerns seem accurate, to request the SC confirms that the building’s insurer has been notified of the problems and risk. You can arrange to call these meetings, to speed up things, if necessary.
Unresolved water proofing issues, are a red flag to purchasers, and so Units in your building will be un-sellable until these problems are resolved.
Also draw the attention of the water proofing problems to the building’s investors. Bannermans law firm, have a series of articles about section 106(5) of the Strata Schemes Management Act.
See => https://www.bannermans.com.au/?sfid=3133&_sf_s=106(5)
Briefly, if an investor has a loss because of a failure by the Owners Corporation to maintain and repair its common property, then the investor can claim compensation to recover that loss, as well as legal expenses etc, (now) up to 6 years (previously 2) after that loss occurred. Owners Corporations have had to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation from that. Any building that ignores repairing its common property is opening its owners up to major expenses in the future, as well as making its Units unsellable.You need to make that case in the agenda and minutes of SC and general meetings, so all the owners become aware of the real and significant risks they are running.
So you have to make your case in the agenda, by submitting a detailed motion to the SC. Then at the meeting, make your case and vote in favour.
Good idea but the secretary is not legally obliged to include any owner’s motion on the agenda of a strata committee meeting, and the chair is not obliged to allow owners to speak at the meeting unless a majority on the committee vote otherwise. If, as in the OP’s case, the owner is “at loggerheads” with the committee and its officers, that may make any such approach futile. You can’t get turkeys to vote for Christmas. The situation for strata general meetings is different – the secretary IS obliged to include any motions and explanatory material (with a limit of 300 words) but the chair can rule the motion out of order, an action which should be recorded.
If you want to be alerted when anyone replies to your posts or responds to this topic, please register and login, then you will be able to subscribe to the topic. The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers. NB: Longer threads may spill over to additional pages - look for the numbers on the bottom right, under the last post.