- This topic has 5 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 2 months ago by .
-
Topic
-
I live in a block of 8 units and we have a small front garden that I planted 20 years ago, when I first bought my unit in the block. It mainly consists of a hedge of Camellia sasanqua along the street frontage and various exotic shrubs interspersed throughout the remaining garden. Some of the plants have thrived whilst others (due to soil contamination) have not. I have been happily maintaining this garden for many years but now the work to maintain it has become much more onerous (it has grown somewhat!) and being a Horticulturist, I naturally feel that I should be the one to do the heavy maintenance, i.e. pruning, mulching etc. I do charge a rate for this work because it is work I have to do outside my own work, but I DO charge mates rates, so feel that is a bit of a sweetener (they have to have someone to do the work anyway, and as I live there, I feel that it may as well be me).
The body corporate have now employed a gardener because they don’t want it “to be a burden for me” even though I have explained that the work is not burdensome for me in the slightest. It actually turns out that they are paying them more for what I regard as pretty average work. This gardener also does not have English as a first language so any instructions from me become somewhat difficult to convey I am annoyed at this – I am semi retired and still do gardens professionally so there is no reason why I cannot still do the common gardens here.
Besides trying to vote at the AGM, do I have any other recourse to get back to doing the gardens there? In the other jobs I do, I submit a professional invoice, I don’t need to charge GST because my turnover is only small, according to the ATO. So the invoice would be presented in the same format as it is to my other clients.
Any advice would be gratefully excepted!
-
Replies
-
Do you mean at an AGM or Committee Meeting it was decided to pay more for the service?
Do you mean at an AGM or Committee Meeting it was decided to pay more for the service?
This is a perfect example of where it would be good for the OP to be able to respond directly. Is it too much to ask Flatchatters to register and log in? Perhaps.
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.
It appears that the agreement to pay someone else more than what I was being paid for the gardening was decided at last year’s AGM that I was not able to attend due to an unexpected family crisis.
Maybe they are not happy with your work and they are using the “burden” as an excuse to fire you. Maybe the new gardener has a relationship with someone in the building who has persuaded the others that the new person is going to be better than you. That would be a conflict of interest.
If it was me and I really wanted the job, I’d be documenting what the new gardener is doing wrong then presenting that information along with a comparison between the new gardener’s fees and yours and suggesting to the Committee that they reinstate the previous relationship. Then make sure you attend the meeting so you can answer any questions and anyone who has a conflict of interest can’t bamboozle the Committee with incomplete or incorrect information.
Another issue, that might be relevant, is the insurance risk if an accident occurs. Most strata buildings include insurance cover for owners, and committee members doing voluntary work on the building and grounds. But the voluntary work must be specifically authorised by the Owners Corporation, in the minutes of a strata committee or general meeting. If not so authorised, then the building’s insurance is unlikely to cover you if you get injured doing the landscaping work (which is a high risk area). Secondly, this only work for “voluntary work” which must be unpaid. If you were charging the Owners Corporation for the work, then it’s not voluntary.
So you should tender for the work, just as the new gardener did. This will require you to have the appropriate insurance, and business details in order. Do you have the appropriate insurance and other requirements? If not, then the Owners Corporation did the right thing by engaging another gardener, who the strata manager would have vetted. As an alternative, why not join the strata committee at the next AGM (or ask to assist them), and then become the committee member supervising the work of the gardener? But not to actually touch the garden, unless as a volunteer for no payment, and with the task then minuted in the strata records.