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THIS COLUMN WAS BASED ON AN EDITED VERSION OF A DISCUSSION THAT ORIGINATED IN THE FLAT CHAT FORUM. YOU CAN SEE ALL THE EXCHANGES IN FULL – AND JOIN IN WITH YOUR OWN OPINION – BY GOING TO FLAT-CHAT.COM.AU/FORUM OR JUST CLICKING ON THE FORUM LINK ON THIS PAGE.
QUESTION: Our committee issues complaints through the strata manager to individual owners with wording like, “It has come to our notice …”, or “A number of complaints have been received …”
The alleged complaints are always anonymous and some owners believe the committee chairman initiates them to harass and intimidate owners. There is no documentation to support the “complaints” and the chairman and the committee won’t discuss the matter with the owner. There is usually no reference in the committee meeting minutes.
In essence, charges are laid without any evidence and the owner can’t reply to the claims, can’t mount a defence, and definitely can’t rectify a situation if it really exists. Have you any thoughts about the advisability of an executive committee entertaining anonymous and undocumented complaints? – Anonymous George (suburb withheld).
ANSWER: There’s complete anonymity on Flat Chat but there’s no such thing as private correspondence within a strata plan. As an owner you are entitled to see anything written to or by the Executive Committee.
If an owner or resident has written to your committee, you can inspect the correspondence. If the strata manager or chairman says it was a phone call, you are entitled to ask who the phone call was from and what the response was.
Executive committee office-bearers can’t issue Notices to Comply without the EC holding a meeting to discuss the complaint. Many would argue that the secretary – not the chairman – is the only person who can issue a warning. If the complaints haven’t been minuted in meetings they effectively don’t exist and I would respond to that effect.
Strata managers who have been delegated the powers of the EC have to show the ‘paper trail’ of complaints, especially if they are challenged in court or at the CTTT.
Sometimes you need to find ways round that, such as when a resident is scared of their neighbours. But a power-mad chairman consistently using anonymous complaints against owners is nothing short of a form bullying.
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Is your closest neighbour on the Committee? The Committee should be instructing the Managing Agent♦. If I were in your shoes I’d be discussing the relationship between the Managing Agent♦ and the Committee with your friends. I’ve seen this happen before where one owner had undue influence over a Managing Agent♦, who was prone to issue such notices as you have received without reference to Committee members, and causing disharmony within the strata complex as a result. Since that agent was given the boot, harmony was restored.
(♦ DaveB – to avoid confusion, I think you’re referring to the Strata Manager – Whale 27/5)
Thanks Whale for the clarification. I’ll use the term Strata Manager in any future posts to allay any potential confusion between letting agencies and strata agencies.
(No problem Dave, I was just try to avoid confusion with subsequent posts, as its Property Managers who work for Owner/Landlords, and Strata Managers who do so for Owners Corporations – Whale)
Thanks DaveB for your insight. The two owners I’m friends with are also on the executive committee, and it turns out they didn’t attend the last meeting at which this complaint against my family was raised. They found out about it when they were c’ced into the email that was sent to my real estate agent (well, my landlord’s property manager).
They both said they thought it was petty/exaggerated and would have discouraged the action of contacting the real estate if they’d been at the meeting. And yes, they’re biased because they know me, but it was a fairly minor matter. They would have volunteered to speak to me about it instead of doing the real estate-reporting thing, so the issue still would have been addressed.
I am happy to own it if we’ve done the wrong thing, but from what you say it seems like the process hasn’t been undertaken fairly. I guess I worry about the risk to my tenancy – I have a flawless record thus far, and now I’ve been reported as a problem tenant within weeks of moving in to a new place. Not exactly reassuring. Now I’m paranoid that if we breathe in the wrong direction we’ll receive a breach notice!