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An owner in our 60s block in Sydney NSW wants to change the interior of his three bedroom unit, adding a full ensuite to one room, moving positions of doors and moving plumbing around, the old toilet and new toilet will no longer be on the outside walls but on the inside walls; so, more noisy.
To me, this is kind of like ‘putting lipstick on a pig’. We reckon they’re going to try and flog it off after they’ve ‘improved’ it. It’s the biggest reno we’ve every had here and wild over-capitalisation. But it also maybe breaking against rules.
The proponent refuses to get a Complying Development Certificate (CDC) from the local council via an independent certifier, saying they don’t need one. The Department of Land & Environment say they need a CDC and our local confirms they need a CDC.
The problem is, they got Special Resolutions for their renos approved at our recent ‘stacked, gerrymandered’ Annual General meeting by only one half of one percent. They had tried unsuccessfully at two, previous General Meetings, TWO, where the vote went very strongly against these silly renos.
The agenda for this AGM had no electronic voting form despite that we’d previously voted for electronic voting (which is something I’ve asked about before). So the meeting was improperly held and the Special Resolutions are already registered.
We have asked the new Strata Committee (same as the old Strata Committee) to insist on the renovator getting a Complying Development Certificate but they won’t; they are quite apathetic about the need for compliance, despite Mascot Towers and Opal Tower. So we contend the committee is not acting in the best interests of the Owners Corporation.
But what can we do? Mediation seems pointless and NCAT seems daunting and requires mediation first. We have a smorgasbord of different parts of the Act to choose from; Sections 24 and 25 for example and the Regulation about electronic voting. Not to mention the committee not acting in the best interests of the OC. Where do we start?