- This topic is empty.
-
Topic
-
VIC – Company Title (Stratum)
Our Contract of Appointment has just come up for renewal. It has about 8 unfair clauses and it will run for 3 years. It is based on a SCA template for 2018.I have asked that as the SCA is about to release a new template could we have a temporary contract ie until the release of the new contract.
The Strata Manager has replied that they are obliged to use the SCA template. Is it correct that if your Strata Manager/Strata Company are part of the SCA then lot owners must use the contract supplied by SCA?I started reading through the SCA-Vic-CoA-User-Guide-for-Owners-Corporations-4.pdf but it didn’t seem like there was much change, How does it compare to the NSW SCA contract?
No 3. (below) – I thought all owners could now access the phone numbers and email addresses or is this only for NSW?
No. 4. (below) – the page on code of conduct not found (possibly behind a pay walll)?- Note: It is the Owners Corporation, not the Manager, that decides where to place the insurance.
- Insurance Fees and Commissions – 5 options (but little change to current practice)
- Phone numbers and email addresses are considered Owners Corporation records and are required to be transferred on change of management. They are not viewable by all lot owners as part of Owners Corporation records.
- Note: There is an ethical obligation imposed on managers by their membership of SCA (Vic) to comply with the SCA (Vic) Code of Professional Conduct. Refer: https://www.vic.strata.community/vic-code-of-conduct – (page not found!)
-
Replies
-
This has become a standard response from strata managers and it is tantamount to SCA Victoria acting as a cartel. A contract is a two way agreement. If your strata manager says they have to use the SCA contract to maintain their SCA membership, then that’s their problem, not yours (except if you really, really want to keep the same strata manager). If you strike out or amend any of the items in the contract, the contract is still valid, unless the strata manager refuses to sign it. In which case, on principle, I would say “thanks for your service” and show them the door but not before finding a strata manager with a spine or a sense of decency.
Here are some statistics for you:
Number of strata managers who have been chucked out of SCA Vic for allowing their contracts to be changed = 0
Number of strata schemes in Victoria saddled with unfair strata management contracts = X*
*X = number of strata schemes in Victoria with strata managers.Things won’t change until the people paying the bills start demanding change. Strata managers won’t demand a change in contracts that favor them to a massive extent until they start losing business.
All said, your most fundamental problem is that you have a government that doesn’t give a flying fajita about strata owners and a Press that has a giant “too-hard” basket labelled strata.
Just over 20 years ago my partner Sue Williams and a few other disgruntled strata owners and professionals got together and formed the Owners Corproration Network. Now it has a seat at the table when the whole issue of strata laws is discussed in NSW (leading to the law changes that came in at the beginning of this month, among others).
What works in the dodgy dealers’ favour is that strata owners are terrified of damaging the value of their properties through bad publicity. But these days, negative publicity in the media isn’t even yesterday’s fish and chip paper, it’s this morning’s cat video. Get organised, get noisy and you might effect change.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.
I don’t know if it’s NSW only, but here the logic goes that all RESIDENTS and owners have to be registered with addresses, contact numbers and email addresses on the strata roll. The strata roll is an Owners Corproation document. All Owners Corp documents must be made accessible to owners.
We had it confirmed by SCA-NSW President Robert Anderson in a recent podcast that this means that all NSW strata owners’ contact details must be made available to other owners on request (and the payment of a $60 fee).
If you have similar provisions without legally established exclusions in Vic strata law, then the SCA contract is probably illegal and definitely open to challenge (possibly under their own invisible code of conduct).
I do know that in a case that went to the WA High Court a few years ago, a decision not to give an owner the right to see the names and addresses of other owners was overturned on the grounds that whatever they call the OC in the wild West couldn’t deny access just because the owner might misuse the contacts.
Anyone in Vic with a clearer idea of this?
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.