[considerate and fair]

Hi Struggler, Yeah, I hear you and feel for you. Here is an idea, what about attending the AGM by telephone conference? We recently had an Owner attend an EC Meeting by telephone as he was OS and there was an issue being discussed regarding his property. Though I am not sure of the legalities of this and if the fact you have a proxy attending means you can not attend in any way. Perhaps you have already considered and have a much better understanding of 'the rules' than I do? If not I hope this helps.

Cheers,

CBF

[considerate and fair]

Hi Muffin, are you saying 3 owners have an issue with 3 EC Members? Or 3 EC Members have an issue with 3 other EC Members who have an issue with an owners partner? Bit confused but either way as JT says to hold an EGM you must get 25% of owners to agree first of all then forward this request to your SM. The notice will then be sent to all owners including the 3 EC members you wish to dismiss. If you want to wait for the AGM, get your numbers and then vote at the meeting. If you are not on the EC you may not have any 'legal' meetings. Nor can you send a meeting invite or distribute minutes. Any meeting notices and minutes apart from EC Meetings are usually made by the Strata Manager if you are managed and then distributed to all owners. EC Meeting Notices and Minutes are placed on the Notice Board. All meetings are transparent and inclusive in a Strata Community.

[considerate and fair]

With due respect to all, most matters do not usually occur overnight, though some do! In our building there is absolutely no concern or interest from the majority of owners that are not on the Committee until the AGM. If you are an owner and interested could you not follow the EC Meetings and or Minutes? SM should supply on request if you do not have access to. Our Committee on occassion gets an email from our SM a week or so before they send out the AGM Notice asking for items to add to the agenda, Bugger all notice for us either, but at least we are taking the time to be involved throughout the year so most items are not a surprise. I don't think there is a requirement to ask all owners for additions before writing agenda.

Having said that, I would still bring up my concerns at the meeting, what have you got to lose? The chair could shut you up or not!

Struggler, are you sure you cannot attend this meeting? Sounds like you should.

Cheers,

CBF

[considerate and fair]

Hi Bioligynerd, you should have a noticeboard in your building so find it and read it, the minutes of your EC Meetings should be posted there so you can get some info on the goings on in your building. As Jimmy says the only way to get permission for keeping an animal is to write to the EC asking permission and giving description of your animal. Do this before the EC meeting if your intention is to attend.Then either request permission through your strata manager to add to agenda and or permission to speak at the next ECM. Alternatively you can wait till the AGM. We always approve dogs in our building, we love animals, but it is on the proviso that the animal is kept on leash at all times it is on CP and that if the animal becomes a nuisance in any way (noise, aggressive behaviour etc) we will send a notice of breach of bylaw and a notice to comply. We have had more than a few notices sent out! So as JT suggests, be thorough in researching the breed you choose, because if the dog is a nuisance it can still be removed from the building with or without the permission.

Best of Luck,

CBF

[considerate and fair]

Hi All,

When I first moved into our building the meter and switch rooms did not have locks. There was some measure of tampering with lighting on Common Property etc by residents and also dumping of rubbish in these rooms which is a fire hazard. I organised for locks to be installed. The locks have a key called an NMB key which is standard to all electricians, firemen and some other tradespeople. This means that any qualified electrician, meter reader or emergency service always has access.

Cheers

CBF

[considerate and fair]

Hi superjames, as a new landlord you could also consider your tenants may also think it unreasonable if you don't repair. As you say the repairs are minor and should cost you only a few hundred dollars which possibly you can claim?

In your shoes I would keep good tenants happy, these tenants clearly are concerned with keeping your property in good repair, bad tenants would not even notice.

Cheers,

CBF

[considerate and fair]

Hi All, I would check in all cases the contract between the OC and the SM. What have you engaged them to do?

We recently have pursued our building defects home warranty insurance through our SM. Not sure how they went about it but apart from scope of works, timetable for access and meeting builder on site all else went through SM and insurer. So far we have not needed any legal advice and there have been no extra charges from all the above.

If this is not part of your SM obligations there must be somewhere your builders insurer is listed for you to contact independantly? Council or Land and Titles? Maybe?

Best of Luck,

CBF

[considerate and fair]

Thanks to all for taking the time to advise. Yes we are managed and that step is now in place. Will attempt to put others into action and see how we go!

Big Cheers  

[considerate and fair]

Hi danny54,

If you have money to spare you should go ahead with lawyers but you don't have to. When you send your complaint to OFT I think the cost is $70?  The  first part of the process is mediation, meaning would you like to meet with the other party with a mediatior to discuss your issue and try to resolve. This is not compulsory for you to attend but it is the compulsory  first step in resolving. After that comes the process of adjudication. Then you send your info and of course you can have legal representative but in my experience I have had barristers which cost many thousands of dollars and we  still lost.  So, again we go back to the kangaroo court of the CTTT.

Best of Luck,

CBF

[considerate and fair]

Hey Chris, thanks for the update. I am surprised that the usage is so low.

Do you feel the cost of installing the submeters in your building was worthwhile? If you don't mind my asking what were the costs of installing?

Cheers

CBF

[considerate and fair]

The EC volunteer their time as most are interested in the upkeep of their building and work very hard on their own time to provide a well kept and financially productive community and building.

Hi Flat Chat Fan, this is why… I love my home and my building. It is not bad and not a losing battle. It is a good building. Really good.

Happy to hear your building functions well with the system you have in place. As with most Strata buildings there are 'issues'. We are dealing with ours bit by bit and each year we try new ways to improve communication and resolve issues, currently we are not reimbursing committee members for calls, paper etc as we have yet to find a way to calculate the use of amongst all the personal use of calls, paper etc,(we are trying) if anyone has any suggestions it would be appreciated. Being on the EC and dealing with the many issues of a Strata building and finding a system that works for everyone and is most productive is a gradual process with many learning curves. I gain much helpful advice from this forum. I appreciate yours and any other poster who takes the time to type an opinion, we are all entitled to one, especially JT. The general nature (I feel) of this forum but not always is to find solutions to problems or post your thoughts on problems in strata and magically a solution or if not some bloody good advice appears, so please accept my apologies for any past or future negative posts as I will now make a concerted effort to use my positive voice.

Big Cheers,

CBF

[considerate and fair]

Dear Jimmy, with all due respect, secret society is a bit over the top.

Any owner who attends AGMs is totally aware of who the members of the EC are as they are voted in at these meetings each year. BY THE OWNERS. You know this. The minutes of these meetings are then sent to ALL owners.The EC members names are available as information in these minutes. Again, you know this. So realistically there is no such thing as a strata with no names unless of course you are in a building without management or does not record the election of the EC. Possibly there are some other situations I am not aware of? Maybe in other states? I am in NSW.

So why the provactive headline?

As you know any Owner can front up to an EC Meeting and ask to speak.

Having a Strata Manager is an investment well spent, they manage the buiding, this is what they are paid for.

The EC volunteer their time as most are interested in the upkeep of their building and work very hard on their own time to provide a well kept and financially productive community and building, I estimate I spend approximately 10 hours a week on building issues, more when there are big issues, often more, not including phone calls, printer paper and cartridges which our Committee at this stage are not reimbursed for, the SM is able to filter the usual repairs etc and then forward on more serious issues to be dealt with by THE COMMITTEE, therefore reducing the issues we have to deal with personally. There is probably no point really in contacting one particular Member with an issue, as if the issue involved needs Committee approval it will still need THE COMMITTEE to act upon. Meaning it will generally have to go to a meeting anyway, and need a majority to vote on so what exactly is the point of contacting one member on their own time? Does one contact their bank manager or phone provider etc out of business hours?

Really?  I am so totally waiting on a ballout!

[considerate and fair]

So totally agree with struggler and I think this issue has been gone over previously in another topic.

As a Committee member being very active in my building and in the past giving my details to residents with 'issues', I have had more than one resident knocking on my door mainly to abuse me and hold me personally responsible for Committee decisions not in their favour and such. My name then also ends up on any CTTT submissions rather than the EC. Awful! Very stressful, I would never in my life do anything that would have me involved in any type of legal action but just because I was acting on behalf of a committee I am!

There is also the fact that you may feel uncomfortable living in your home being a target from said individuals.

There is never any thanks when you may have resolved some issue for a resident after much use of your own time without pay! So totally over it! Our Committee has now resolved to have all communications go via the SM. So much better, responsibility is evened out. The SM acts on our behalf. We are consulted and we are able to prioritise issues. It does have a paper trail and also takes the “shoot the messenger” out of the equasion.

I hope the posters who would like all EC Members contact details available consider the flack taken by these volunteers.

Cheers,

CBF

[considerate and fair]

Thanks Chris,  looking forward to hearing the results.

Cheers,

CBF

[considerate and fair]

I recently had a similar problem with water running for hours through pipes in my ceiling and wondered why a tap would be left running. I found it to be a faulty toilet in the apartment above. When the toilet was flushed water would continously run through the toilet and then the pipes in my bathroom ceiling. A simple fix of the toilet valve above and no more water running. Another apartment needed washer changes in their taps. I believe that was causing hammering in my building, not sure how true that info from my plumber is though.

Cheers,

CBF

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