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[Tenacious]

Thank you Jimmy for all the great advice on Flatchat – your halo shines ever brighter for us put-upon, beleaguered unit dwellers!

I’ve just been reading Geoff Grist’s ‘Flip for Cash’ book on strata units (have no intention of flipping for cash my one-bedder but alarmed to read that, under the 75 pc rule, if a developer approaches a unit in a small complex (Grist mentions four in the block) and three owners agree to sell, the fourth owner is compelled to sell, willing or not.

I am in a 14-unit older block – two units are currently up for sale, and I suspect two other owners might be waiting to see what happens with those sales.

Only two owners actually live in the block (one being myself) – the other units are all rented. Could this 75 per cent rule apply if the other owners are persuaded to sell their units ? (love you to print this and see what other Flatchatters think – I had never heard of the 75 pc rule until now.

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[Jimmy-T]

Tenacious wrote:

alarmed to read that, under the 75 pc rule, if a developer approaches a unit in a small complex (Grist mentions four in the block) and three owners agree to sell, the fourth owner is compelled to sell, willing or not.

Yes, but no, but …

There is a process and it’s far from straightforward.  First of all the owners have to pass a majority agreement to set up a sub-committee to investigate the proposal.

Then the committee has to report back, with details of the likely deal or deals they have been offered.  Then there is a three-month cooling off period so that everyone can consider their options.

Then the owners get to vote, and it does require, firstly, 75 percent (plus) of lots by unit entitlement, and then it requires 75 percent of lot owners to agree in writing (in a simple head count).

Then the sale has to be approved by the Land and Environment Court and at this point any owner can object, for instance, on the grounds that they aren’t receiving sufficient compensation, or that there are other factors that are specific to their circumstances (they have an aged relative who doesn’t want to move, for instance).  And here’s the interesting twist – the owners corporation has to pay the objector’s legal fees.

So it’s not as cut and dried as, say, a developer buying up 75 percent of the units or persuading enough owners to support their plan.  It has to be reasonable and fair and that can be a considerable hurdle if the only argument is profit.

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