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Topic
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Hi There,
I’m new to this stuff… I recently bought into a block of 12 strata units in a Sydney suburb. They are old and run down. I contacted the strata manager to discover all the contact details of the executive committee and I was told that they would send an email to them asking them to contact me. Ok… so I never heard anything back. Now I’m about to do a title search of each unit to discover the owner (or via local council) and contact each owner (after finding them on facebook, in the phone book or what ever), and ask them if they are on the committee and by a process of elimination work out the contact details of each member of the exec committee etc.
The strata manager actually has given me a login so I guess I can go back through meetings and minutes etc and discover some of the names – but it doesn’t give me the contact details. All I want is the email addresses so I can write to them.
My question is – is this normal? – why is it such a hassle for a new owner who is not an occupier to get simple information about the exce committee?
Regards,
R
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Replies
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spmanager – Stalking is a criminal offence so be careful how you use this term.
Sending an email to a committee member about the condition of the common property does not satisfy the definition of ‘stalking’ unless it is worded in such a way as to cause a person to fear for their safety. Sending an email to the Committee about the condition of the common property would be a legitimate reason for sending an email.
Just because the recipient may not like or agree with the content of the email does not mean that the content has caused a person to fear for their safety. Lets not become too ‘fragile’ here.
As for when the recipient chooses to open the email and whether this caused an inconvenience …. the opening of emails or texts can be done at a person’s leisure – and does not have to occur when the email is received into the inbox.
FYI
Behaviours that constitute stalking or intimidation
The legislation in NSW has a broad definition of what behaviour may constitute stalking or intimidation, which includes the following:
- Following a person;
- Approaching, watching or frequenting a person’s residence, work, business or a place that a person frequents for a social or leisure activity;
- Conduct that amounts to molestation or harassment of a person;
- Any conduct that causes a reasonable apprehension of injury to a person or to a person with whom he or she has a domestic relationship;
- Trying to contact the person by any means (which includes using text messaging, email, social media, telephone, or other technologically assisted means) which causes the person to fear for their safety; or
- Any conduct that causes a reasonable apprehension of violence or damage to any person or property.
@JimmyT said:
”-if it took you three goes to get the strata manager to do what is standard practice and clearly set out in strata law, then you can see where a lot of your problems start and end.”
Last week in Queensland, the Gold Coast Bulletin published an article on a court case where 2 body corp members refused to hand over Body Corp Records, which was subject to an Adjudication Order. The committee member was fined $7,000 with $11,000 court costs and the Body Corp Manager was fined $4,000 with $11,000 in court costs.
Well this has kicked up a hornets nest.
I think the simple points are a new owner wanted the names and contact details of the committee.
The SM should have sent him their names and postal addresses straight away. There is no reason to withhold what any owner is entitled to. But emails and phone numbers should only be sent if the member is willing to share them. Yes a full strata search would have them in it, as all records are available.
Personally I think that emails should be part of the contact details on strata rolls as that’s the way most people correspond. But it was not included in the act when it was changed in 2015.
The remainder as to the workings of the committee or the owners corporation. Will not be known unless the original poster sends an update.
YES spmanager – email addresses should be part of the strata roll, as this is the ”industry standard” for 2018.
Our adjudicator made it clear and so has the lawyer, that the Body Corp roll belongs to the Body Corporate, not the Body Corp Manager. And unless the Body Corp Managers declare that the collection of records is for personal use, they are the ownership pf the body corporate.
It’s not the 1980s where people were using mailing addresses to contact people.
Just a thought – the SC I’m on has had a problem with a few residents who Cc committee members into emails that go far and wide, including to politicians, lawyers, friends and family. The content of the emails often borders on or, at times, crosses the divide between informative and derrogatory. The latter is usually aimed at the SC. By sending identifying emails out to all and sundry, the risk of spam increases, and we all know spammers don’t need much encouragement.
We have asked residents to simply use the Bcc function – not stop communicating – just respect the privacy of SC members. The flow of communication has ground to an almost halt since then, which would indicate that the message was not clearly understood. We didn’t say ‘don’t communicate’, we just asked them to use Bcc. Are we expecting too much?