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[Jimmy-T]

There have been a few postings to the Flat Chat Forum recently about how to change things when your executive committee seems to operate only for the benefit of a chosen few but stays in power thanks to rusted-on proxy votes.

It is possible to get the Consumer Trader and Tenancy Tribunal to impose a strata manager to take over all the responsibilities of a dysfunctional owners corporation but things have to be really, really bad for that to happen.

Realistically, if bills are being paid, insurances are in place, the building isn’t falling down, there’s no large scale corruption and the AGM is held once a year,  the CTTT is unlikely to get involved. Arguments over the chairman having annexed a visitors spot won’t cut the mustard.

So what do you do if things are bad but not bad enough? The answer may be to get together with other unhappy owners and mount a ‘coup’.

First get the addresses and phone numbers of all owners and tell them how the value of their property is being eroded, backed up by comments from local real estate agents. And, yes, signs of a badly run and fractious building will deter savvy purchasers and renters.

Then point to any holes in the accounts, inflated contracts and economies that aren’t being made and tell them what you and your supporters plan to do about it.

Once you have enough support, call an Extraordinary General Meeting, sack the incumbent EC, propose your group as a “ticket” and if you’ve got your numbers right, take over.

Then work your backsides off to show that people were right to have faith in you.

But don’t attack the incumbents personally – no one wants to hear that and you could be sued for defamation.

And don’t get bogged down in petty politics – investor owners, especially, are only interested in making money.  Everything else is hot air.

Finally, if you can’t get enough people to support your coup, maybe it means things aren’t as bad as you think.

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[Anonymous]

    I tried this some time ago and part of the result seemed to be that two owners gave proxies to members of the poorly functioning EC and another attended and also supported them.  These people seem interested not so much as making money as not wanting to be awakened from the dream that all is going beautifully and others are doing any work required. 

   Numerous complaints from tenants has ensued from the outcomes of the appalling management – but apparently mostly to the Strata Mgr. who is less than useless and probably wouldn't pass most of them on as it might upset the E.C. and get them looking for a scapegoat.

   I would suggest learning the basic rules for EC's which most apparently have almost no idea about, recording and keeping evidence of the breaches and spending $73 at the CTTT twice for mediation and adjudication once there is a list covering the worst.

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