Current Page

[Jimmy-T]

Fair Trading minister Victor Dominello has promised to crack down on strata “tyrants” and cheats who set out to circumvent the letter and the spirit of the new laws that came in last month.

The Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation was responding to reports that strata committee members were already putting in place plans to undermine laws intended to make them more representative of owners.

The claims refer to new laws that prevent, for instance, rental agents from serving on strata committees unless they are owners and block the chairs of strata committees from harvesting swathes of votes from owners who don’t attend AGMs.

In the first instance it had been reported that a multiple unit owner had appointed his rental agents as nominees of two companies that owned the properties. It was alleged that this set-up was specifically intended to subvert the law so that they could continue to dominate the strata committee to the owner’s advantage.

In the case of proxy farming, there have been reports of strata committee officers using private email addresses to which only they had access, sending out requests to owners to pass their proxy votes to members of the committee.

In one case cited, all the committee members had previously been hand-picked by the chair who previously carried more than 50 per cent of the vote at AGMs and could therefore elect the committee of his choice.

“There is already an umbrella provision in the Act that allows the Tribunal to adjudicate when there are claims that the law has been subverted in any way,” Mr Dominello told Domain.  “Section 232 of the Act gives the Tribunal wide-ranging powers to resolve disputes, rescind decisions made by owners corporations and committees – including elections –  and revoke by-laws.

“Anyone who feels the law has been subverted or circumvented in these ways can apply to Fair Trading and the Tribunal (NCAT) for an adjudication.”

However, Mr Dominello told Domain he is prepared to go further if there is clear evidence that the letter and spirit of the new strata Act are being ignored or subverted.

“I and my department will be monitoring the exercise of Section 232 very closely, to make sure the Tribunal is using it effectively to ensure the provisions of the Act are being properly employed.

“If that proves not to be the case then we will find ways to strengthen the regulations to get the results we intended when we set out on this massive updating of strata laws.

“The whole intent of the law was to ward against the growth of tyrants in strata schemes. We want to give greater voice to the silent majority and if tyrants emerge, then owners have section 232 to protect them. If section 232 doesn’t do its job, then we will strengthen 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.

Topic