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Hi all, new to this forum and would like some advice.
Mid last year we bought a villa in a four-unit complex, we are unit 4 at the very end of the block (L shaped, we are at the end of the ‘axe’ so to speak). There’s a very, very long driveway and a super tight 90 degree bend (unit 3 just at the bend and I’m at the very end). Between unit 3 and 4 there is a massive tree and a bit of common property between the tree and unit 3’s garage that acts as a ‘turn around facility’ for unit 4.
Theoretically, to get out of the complex I reverse into the common property between adjacent to the tree and drive straight out. When we moved in late last year, we found that unit 3 is parking one of their cars in the common property in question. In fact, they installed a retractable sunshade onto the external wall of the villa to protect their car from rain… I believe there are no exclusive use arrangements.
In order to get out of the complex, I have to reverse all the way out (about 50m). It’s very tight and at night or when it’s raining hard to see anything. I’ve had several close calls with pedestrians reversing out, once with small children. Not to mention the hassle of reversing almost 50m in a tight driveway…
The owner of unit 3 used to park their car from about 4pm until 6am (wife’s working times). I spoke to the owner and he was dismissive of my concerns, citing his tenure of the villa (10 years or so) and the fact that they have ‘always parked there’ and the ‘previous owner just reversed all the way out’. I didn’t want to have an argument at the time as we just moved in and have a lot of stress-causing things happening in our personal lives (work and wedding preparation etc).
However, since early this year, they got a new car and started parking their other car, a bigger sedan (husband goes to work on a motorcycle) all day, every day almost permanently in the common property. There maybe days that he uses the car but it’s once in a blue moon.
We want to start a family and either upgade to a larger car (I’ve got a tiny Corolla), or have two cars which will make it harder to reverse out all the way to the street. I also don’t want to risk reversing and posing a danger to residents and pedestrians. I’ve had it and want this issue resolved; there should be no parking on common property anyway! To add fire, the owner regularly parks his cars on the driveway to wash his cars or load/unload things, sometimes hours on end. I’ve had to on several occasions, tell him to move his car so that my wife and I can actually get out of our garage.
We have an AGM in a couple of weeks and I plan on raising this issue. I just want some advice on how I should approach this, as we have just appointed a new strata manager (owner of unit 3 convinced us to change strata managers last year).
I’m not one to cause disharmony and trouble but I’m under stress everyday and just want it to end.
Thanks!
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Yes you are correct the EC or OC taking action against the offender would carry more weight and they would pay all costs out of the Strata funds.
BUT you are then dependent on the decision of the other 3 owners and if the SM acts on behalf of the Strata they can charge for time and effort (ours quoted approx $2,000 to get a result) which would come out of Strata funds.
A better result would be to get the OC or EC to pass a motion authorizing the OC to proceed to conciliation and adjudication with you as their nominated representative with full powers to act on the OC behalf against the offender.
This way the Strata will cover your out of pocket expenses (application fees but not your time) and you will be able to obtain the result you want without any recourse to the OC.
Your biggest problem will be making sure you comply with all the requirements so read the forms carefully and maybe get the SM to give the completed forms the once over before submitting.
Doing it with the OC support or without your case is so strong I don’t believe the outcome is in doubt. Just make sure you bring up as many issues as you can that way you will appear reasonable by conceding some of the minor issues (allowing him to keep the awning providing he accepts responsibility for it’s maintenance with a bylaw, allowing him and others to park outside for loading and unloading purposes only, etc).
Good luck
Good Morning,
I have a v similar issue, self managed three units strata in NSW, the offender is the secretary/treasurer, and I have requested a meeting about parking issues and a notice to comply to be issued as this has been an on going issue and must be addressed. The meeting is to be held next week, and any information I can gather before meeting I would approceiate, such as is the notice to comply to be decided by a vote count or unit entiltlements, is there to be an agenda, are minutes to be issued, who is responsible if notice is issued who enforces compliance.I suppose if all else fails I can go directly to NSW Fair Trading and if so, what happens that secretary/treasurer/chairman failed is their roles to enforce by laws.
Many thanks…
@Help said:
… is the notice to comply to be decided by a vote count or unit entitlements, is there to be an agenda, are minutes to be issued, who is responsible if notice is issued who enforces compliance.Lots of questions all wrapped up in one post so here are your answers in order:
1. If the meeting is an Executive Committee meeting, then the decision is by a simple show of hands. Unit entitlements don’t count and neither do proxy votes (unless they are proxy votes by absent EC members, which have to be agreed on by attending members of the EC).
If it is a properly constituted general meeting – with proper agendas etc – then votes can be by unit entitlements and proxy votes are allowed provided they are on the correct official form.
2. If it’s an executive committee meeting, an agenda must be issued 72 hours before the meeting. If it’s an extraordinary general meeting, an agenda must be sent out 7 days before the meeting. In both cases, minutes must be recorded and supplied to owners.
If there is no agenda and no minutes, it’s not an official meeting although you can reach an informal resolution to simply abide by your by-laws.
3. Let’s assume there is a clear breach of by-laws and you and the other owner have issued a Notice to Comply (which must be on THIS FORM ) and the miscreant has ignored it then the Owners Corp (you and the other guy) can apply for a penalty to be applied, using THIS FORM.
However, if you are on your own on this – the third party doesn’t want to get involved – you can take the matter to Fair Trading for compulsory mediation and then pursue it through NCAT for orders and penalties, if need be. You’ll find out more about this HERE.
All said and done, you are much better to resolve this internally and informally because, if nothing else, these guys are your neighbours. So here is a simple strategy you can follow if you wish.
a) Establish first of all if the neighbour’s behaviour is a clear breach of by-laws (e.g. parking on common property). All by-laws are different for different schemes so check what yours say. Then, before you get into the nitty gritty of the argument, address what it is that you want rather than how you can make that happen. In your case, you want unimpeded access. So the first question to be addressed is, what can your fellow owners do to make this happen?
b) Even if they dig their heels in, try not to make it personal – why they are being selfish is not the issue, the consequences are.
c) The fact that they have “always done this” has no bearing on the issue. Perhaps the previous residents didn’t care, didn’t know they could do anything about it or felt too intimidated. That is not your problem. Explain that opinions don’t matter as much as by-laws and they won’t be able to change the by-laws because even with the other owner onside, they will never reach the required 75 percent.
d) If they still won’t budge, explain that you would rather not pursue this through Fair Trading and NCAT but you will if you have to. There are mechanisms not only to force them to abide by the building’s by-laws (or be fined up to $5500) but to pay for the cost of any actions you may have to take to have the by-laws enforced (you can apply not to pay the portion of the levies to cover the legal costs).
e) As a last resort, if the other owners aren’t prepared to abide by the by-laws of the building, you might apply to have a strata manager (of your choice, which is a mandatory condition) employed to run the scheme on the grounds that the Owners Corporation is no longer functioning for the benefit of all the owners and under the terms of its own by-laws. This will be expensive and the owners will have no say in the running of the building for the duration of the strata manager’s appointment. This is not what you want to do but it is a last resort available if there is not other solution.
f) Now go back to the original issue – you want unimpeded access; what can your fellow owners do to make this happen?
What happens [if the] secretary/treasurer/chairman failed in their roles to enforce by laws.
There is no punishment or fine for failure to be a good office-bearer but there can be very unpleasant consequences, as outlined in item (f) above.
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wow, many thanks for the very informative response, I have tried the sofly, sofly approach, however when you cannot access your garage, get abused when asking them to move vehicles, or even them not moving vehicle’s when I have asked them, some days its hard to be civil and I feel the bullies should not get away with this. The secretary/treasurer has called for an extraordinary meeting with no agenda and given me 5 days notice, has just has written to “discuss and attempt resolution of car parking issue “. The model by laws have been adopted. So yes, I will take your advice and I will attempt again to request v nicely that I have room to park my car in my garage and see what happens.
I will keep you posted..
hello help, and all other people that give helpful advice on this forum, i have exactly the same problems in perth. is there any legal person in perth that would help me, there are to many issues to list here, i would just like to talk to someone face to face and i do not mind paying thankyou.