Current Page

[Losezama]

In Queensland – We seem to have a caretaker in our complex who is making life difficult for some owners and tenants. He told one tenant that her landlord was a bitch; walked into an apartment while the tenant was in her pyjamas without giving notice that he would do an inspection; parked his contractors car on an owners private driveway and refused to get it moved when asked; arranged for a contractor to mark a private driveway without giving notice to the owner; intentionally broke garden pot of owner with his ride-on mower, takes photos of owners on their private property, discusses owners’ business with tenants; spreads rumours about owners; gets petty complaint letters sent to owners via the body corp manager when his favourite tenants complain about owners; alleges people are defaming him when they write and complain; and so on. 

If the committee ignore all complaints about him from owners, what course of action can owners take in Qld?

Topic

[Jimmy-T]

I’m not an expert on Queensland Body Corporate law but it seems to me that there is a highly structured process of dispute resolution that requires each stage to be satisfied.

And given that the caretaker’s contract is with the Body Corporate, your dispute is probably with them for failing to effectively manage their manager.

I can hear our Queensland readers guffawing at this very idea. Queensland caretakers are a protected species under the fundamentally corrupt system that pre-sells management rights which, by virtue of a process designed with the sole intent of putting more money into developers pockets, are contracts that must be weighted in favour of the caretakers or they wouldn’t be worth buying.

Getting off my high horse for a second, the process, as explained here, means writing a letter to your committee and then putting a motion to their next meeting asking them to tell their manager to pull his head in, under whatever disciplinary areas might exist in the contract (cue more laughter from up north).

If they refuse or fail to do so effectively, then you should seek mediation and if that doesn’t work, you can escalate this to an application for adjudication.  

Now, as I said, I’m no expert on Qld strata law and there may be a system whereby individual owners can take action against caretakers.  If that’s the case, then someone may chip in.

One other thing, if you are sending a letter or putting a motion to a committee meeting or a general meeting, try to get the signatures of as many other residents on it as possible.  You really don’t want to be facing a bullying caretaker on your own if you can avoid it. 

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.

Quote

[Losezama]

Thanks Jimmy for your reply. Most of the people he has done things to have already moved out.  

Poor treatment and disrespect of owners is rampant in Queensland because the BCM’s and caretakers are about protecting themselves. These people have gained very powerful positions and they betray everything they claim to believe, and exploit those owners in whose best interests they are supposed to act.

 I’m not talking about all of them because there are still some really decent body Corp managers & caretakers in this state. 

However, there’s a sickness that affects the body Corp industry in Queensland just like any other institution, and it’s ultimately all linked to power and money.  And there are some very inappropriate people in this industry!

 I’m not an unquestioning fiercely loyal person to my committee, especially when I see multiple mistakes year after year. And it’s really hard being a dissenter in a body corporate group – we all pay the price!.

My primary role in life is to help people, not to keep the lid on mistakes, but I suffer socially & emotionally.

But just imagine if all of us with goodwill and integrity moved out – what would be left?

Quote

[Author]

Replies