[bigtt]

There is a by-law in place stating maintenance is the Lot owner’s responsibility. However it’s a large tree and was planted long before it became exclusive use. I can’t find the height of the stratum on the strata plan.

[bigtt]

Ethically speaking, it sounds like a rort, just like every other financial rort that uses the excuse of 'security' in one guise or other as its shield. 

The job of the executive committee and the managing agent is to act in the best interests of the owner's corporation. This means keeping costs down and the quality of work high.

Three completely separate legal entities are involved here: the owner's corporation which theoretically has the most power with the managing agent wielding the least, whist in practice it's the reverse. Deterring potential tradesmen who might provide a cheaper, quality service by charging them a fee is not acting in the owner's corporation's best interest, in my humble opinion.

My managing agent has his own tradesmen on hand, but as he is a managing agent is always only a servant of us owners. We unit owners always obtain quotes by our own quality tradesmen who are usually cheaper, and so we employ our own on a repeated basis. We're a small complex so I'm not sure which entity 'we' are actually acting as, owners corporation or executive committee. Larger complexes are more prone to rorting and unchecked management decisions because owners simply don't know or have the time to check what's actually going in.

Sounds like a managing agent-contractor relationship is, like many respected professional relationships, based on personal connections and the whim of the person wielding the decision-making power.

[Author]

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