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[Topsheila]

 After living in my strata unit for five years (30 units) last year I decided to get on the executive committee because, ever since I have lived here, the committee of five seemed to be rusted on, with the same people elected every year and agreeing  with whatever the chairman decides.  Also, since I am retired I thought I could contribute something because all the other committee members work, and two live elsewhere. 

I had had a couple of run-ins with the chairman (as have other people), mostly about noise – renovations and otherwise that I objected to, but nothing prepared me for his hostility towards me after being elected onto the EC and being nominated as secretary.  For the past year, he has been openly rude to me, not getting in the lift with me, left me off emails (such as voting on major maintenance issues) and, I believe, has told our strata manager to ignore me if I make any requests.  We also haven’t had a meeting since the 2016 AGM, almost a year ago. 

Recently, I requested by email to the committee a steam-clean of all balconies because a couple of people had mentioned it to me and I had also been thinking about it for some time, although I said it was not an urgent issue.  The chairman responded immediately that balconies were the owner’s responsibility and not common property and included instructions on how to wash tiles, to which I replied that I was referring to the overhead concrete and walls of the balconies and not the tiles.  What I didn’t know was the other committee members and strata manager had been sent reports about extensive works to the plumbing in the building, including approximately $15,000 of work on the chairman’s balcony and unit.  When I found out, I requested the reports, which the strata manager sent to me with an apology.  These reports have not yet been released to other owners. 

What is worrying me now is that we are probably going to have to have a special levy to cover the cost of these works and the works to the chairman’s unit will be hidden in there somewhere along with everything else.  

Our AGM will be in a few weeks and I feel I should bring this to the attention of other owners, along with the balcony cleaning issue.  The trouble is, the agenda will be settled without any input from me and I now feel so intimidated by the chairman I am reluctant to stand for the committee again and/or to raise any issues.  Most owners don’t even attend the AGM but give their proxies to the chairman so I feel I have very little support.  

I am not easily intimidated so am quite distressed about what has happened over the past year.  I would really appreciate some advice.

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[Tess McGill]

@Topsheila said:
That sounds strange to me.  No one in your building is interested in how much their levies are, or will increase by at a new AGM or how much money the SC spends or what they spend it on?  

Unfortunately I’ve spent long enough around strata owners to know that this is indeed the case. People simply cannot be bothered. Even to their financial detriment! It’s always’ “SEP” – someone else’s problem. Specifically “the strata’s” problem. No-one seems to realise they are “the strata”.

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[sylcec]

I very much sympathise with TopSheila’s problems.  My SP, where I have lived for 22 years, has a long history of bullying and abusive Chairs.  Several years ago a few of us got together prior to an AGM and agreed to stand for the committee. The problem person was voted out. Unfortunately, due to ill-health, the new Chair had to resign into the 2nd year, and another abusive bully resumed the role – eventually becoming a committee of 1 because no-one could work with him.  His behaviour became so extreme that again there was casual discussion amongst some other owners and a new committee of 5 is in place.

However, as Tess McGill points out, in general owners are just not interested – I even find it difficult to get responses from most of my committee members to occasional emails.  I think many people buy into strata plans so that they absolve themselves from having the responsibility of attending to maintenance matters.  “The Strata will do it”.  All very frustrating.

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[Topsheila]

Well, our AGM proceeded on 27 March 2017.  I did not attend as I had a medical procedure that day and didn’t feel up to it.  My neighbour, who also did not receive a Notice of AGM attended and told me the only other people present were the strata committee (old/new).  In due course I received the minutes of the meeting.  Unbelievably, they proceeded without a quorum – including the number of a utility lot as a person attending.  The minutes stated that all SC members had self-nominated, but one I know was interstate and had not given her proxy to anyone because she had included me in an email advising that she was out of town.

I was so enraged that things proceeded with all my objections, I investigated my options.  Unfortunately, you can’t take people to NCAT without first attempting mediation through Fair Trading (which, unfortunately has moved from the city to Parramatta, involving a long train trip for me), so I got all my information together and filed an application for mediation with Fair Trading (who can knock back the application if they consider it frivolous).  They took about a week to get back to me with a date a further three weeks away.  So that was a week ago.

The OC was represented by the Chairman and the Strata Manager as respondents, with me (alone) as the applicant.  Obviously, the Chairman and the Strata Manager were hostile and repeatedly told me that everything had been in order and the AGM was legitimate.  They lied, told fairy tales, told me the Notice of AGM had been mailed to everyone (it still hasn’t turned up and my neighbour even made enquiries at our post office).  The mediator, who was already acquainted with the Strata Manager, told me several times to be quiet and listen to the Strata Manager. The Chairman told me what I said about him was defamatory (it isn’t).  The Strata Manager said the AGM was early mostly because she was going on holiday, to which I replied that an email to that effect should have been sent to the committee members.  The Chairman said an email was sent (oh sorry, somehow your name was left off).  I told them the AGM was invalid because they didn’t have a quorum and the usual SC member who was unfinancial couldn’t be on the SC, to which the Strata Manager replied that (of course) the levies were paid prior to the meeting. I have yet to see evidence of this.

The mediators at Fair Trading are elderly, semi-retired legal people and I felt our session was hindered by a “let’s stick to the rules” approach.  Both the Chairman and the Strata Manager are aggressive people and I ended up just accepting the outcome was not going to go my way and all that was resolved was that the Strata Manager would email me when documents were available and I could go to her office and pick them up. 

The whole episode was very disappointing.  I’m right back to where I was with a now cliquey SC in place, who will continue to let the Chairman make all decisions.

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[Lady Penelope]

You have ‘jumped through the hoop’ of the required Mediation. Sometimes Mediation works and sometimes it doesn’t.

I personally find that Mediation suits ‘bossy’ and ‘assertive’ people whereas it does not suit ‘quieter’ and ‘less confident’ people. Some people are better ‘talkers’ and some people are better ‘writers’. 

If you did not like the outcome of the Mediation then you can take this matter further and apply for an Order to NCAT. 

The Application Form is below. The last few pages of the Form explain what Orders you can seek.

https://www.ncat.nsw.gov.au/Documents/ccd_form_strata_application.pdf

Also see

https://www.ncat.nsw.gov.au/Pages/cc/Divisions/strata.aspx

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[Sir Humphrey]

@Lady Penelope said:
…I personally find that Mediation suits ‘bossy’ and ‘assertive’ people whereas it does not suit ‘quieter’ and ‘less confident’ people. Some people are better ‘talkers’ and some people are better ‘writers’…  

If the mediator is any good they should help to even things out by ensuring the quieter person get a turn to speak without pressure and allowing them to gather their thoughts. 

For those who would be “better ‘writers'”, it would be reasonable, I think, to come to mediation with some written prepared notes to speak to and to have copies for the other party to refer to as they hopefully respond reasonably to your various points. 

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