[Curly]

Peter

My concern is that without my vote the motions may all end up hung at 2:2 and I want to avoid this by providing my own voting preferences so that we at least get a majority of 3:2. What really concerns me is that my strata manager said I couldn’t provide my own voting preferences to one of the EC member. I would like to know if the  SSMA in NSW allows for this show that I can advise my strata manager. 

[Curly]

Well we had our AGM this week and we terminated our Strata Manager. When it came to the motion to appoint the new Strata, the terminated Manager wouldn’t allow a change to the motion to add the name of the one we wanted to appoint and dismissed my attempts to explain that the meeting had a majority of owners present and through proxy that wanted the new one appointed. I suppose we’ll now have to have an Extraordinary General Meeting to appoint them. Was he correct to not allow the change to the motion? The wording of the motion is three replies down and all we wanted to do was change appoint a managing agent to appoint xxx pty ltd?

[Curly]

Thanks Whale …..for the record I am the Dan3101 who recently posted Changing Strata Management – have  I covered my bases. I expect our Strata Manager isn’t going to care about too much as we have a motion on our AGM agenda to terminate them which I proposed (after only living here a year).

 I fully undertand your frustrations about owners getting renovations done without permission. The reality for me was that the Strata Manager didn’t tell me I needed a SBL he said I only needed to get the ECs approval for my major renovations.  I knew this was wrong and got a Special Bylaw drawn up and prepared a motion for my renovation SBL for the upcoming AGM. If I was given the wrong information perhaps some of the other owners were too.

So with a motion to terminate the current strata management company, a motion to appoint a new company,  a motion for my renovation SBL and a motion for a generic renovation SBL all proposed by me all I can say is bring on the AGM…….

[Curly]

Can someone tell me definately who pays for the reinstatement of the common property if illegal renovations such as removal of internal wall, creation of second bathroom,  window converted to a sliding door have been done?

Villa owners have done this without a SBL being registered and I can’t see any history of any notices to comply ever having been sent out.

If the answer is the OC how are they ever going to be allowed to get in to the villas to reinstate the common property? 

[Curly]

Our AGM agenda has arrived. It has a proposed motion for our Villa renovations only complete with Special Bylaw, our plans and engineer’s report.

The agenda also has another motion for a Generic Renovation Bylaw which states that the owners of Lot X (me) requested a generic renovation by law be draft and presented at the AGM. (I had actually followed Whale’s suggestion and asked for a bylaw with a moratorium of 6 months so that anyone who needed to could seek the OC’s retrospective consent). The motion explains that the EC got legal advice and bylaws authorising renovation works generally are problematic in light of recent Tribunal decisions.

The motion lists some confusing options all with their own restrictions as follows;

• a bylaw under section 52. This will confer maintenance and repair obligations, but it requires the written consent of all owners (if rights are being given to all owners) and it must specify the relevant area of common property (which is not known for all lots),
• a bylaw under section 47, which contains a pro-forma bylaw under section 52 which owners will complete and send to the strata manager each time they wish to conduct renovation works. This ensures compliance with the ACT and lot owners are saved the expense of arranging their own by-law, however it does not circumvent the need for general meetings each time an owner proposes work,
• a bylaw under section 47 which does confer maintenance and repair obligations or a bylaw under section 52 which is not specific about the affected common property). This was the norm prior to the current interpretations, but it is not certain that bylaws drafted in this way will survive a challenge.

 Can anyone see a way forward?

[Curly]

Whale – The reality is probably most of the Villas have had illegal renovations done, some major and others minor. Only recently the EC president had a skip on common property for weeks while getting an extensive bathroom renovation.  Owners would in effect be voting to take on maintenance for common property affected by the renovations which the OC is currently responsible for. Realisticly can you see any incentive for owners now agreeing to a SBL that would make them responsible?

[Curly]

The information you provide here is so helpful. 

We are in the process of getting approval for renovations to a Villa we recently bought. We had a lawyer draft a Special Bylaw (SBL) as requested by the manager and have supplied the plans and engineer’s report. On the weekend a met two separate owners who invited me into their villas to look at their renovations. Whole walls have been removed and windows replaced with sliding doors leading to the courtyard.

I’ve checked and there are no SBLs registered on title. I’ve now written to the EC and manager and without naming names have advised that we certainly understand why SBLs are required and it would make more sense to have a generic one for all owners rather than one just for us. Is this the legal way to remedy this situation and should the EC comply?

 

Our AGM is mid December….

[Curly]

kiwipaul said 

Who is going to supply this Management Agency Agreement you??……….

Just ask your preferred agency for a suitable motion to get rid of your current SM and appoint them. You can then modify this to include agency b or c unless you only want 1 choice.

I will table the Agency Agreement at the meeting as we are still in the process of making a recommendation.  I am waiting on the agencies to provide references to chat to about performance. Between now and our AGM in mid December I will also keep the 16 onsite owners updated on the selection process and the reasons why company x is being recommended. 

I ran this idea past one of the potential agencies and got them to assist me to draft the two motions. 

I originally provided the 16 onsite owners with the quotes from four local agencies.

Some good news is I now have one EC member who agrees we need to change and is willing to work with me and some other owners to select one of the four companies so that we do provide one recommendation at the December AGM

[Curly]

@Whale said:
 if it’s not too late, why not change your Motion to include the name of the Strata Management Company who you believe should be appointed?

That’s quite acceptable, as the objective of the Motion is to terminate the Strata Manager, and who the Meeting resolves to replace them with is secondary.

 

Thanks I submitted 2 motions on Monday, one to terminate and the other with the following wording …..

That the Owner’s Corporation, pursuant to Section 27(1) of the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996, appoint a Managing Agent of Strata Plan xxx effective from the termination of xxx with the delegated duties and terms and conditions of appointment as specified in the Management Agency Agreement tabled at the meeting, and that the common seal be affixed to the Management Agency Agreement which is to be signed by two members of the executive committee.

Will this wording suffice. I still have a few days before the motion deadline to amend it.  

[Curly]

@kiwipaul said:

Forget submitting a motion at the AGM for an EGM you have provided everyone with all the relevant data so just submit a motion to the AGM for the current SM to be terminated and for one of the 4 alternatives you have found to be selected at the AGM.

Thank you for your response and suggestion. While I have provided owners with a comparison table of the quotes and an email if they would like copies of the quote documentation I feel that by asking them to decide at the AGM they would solely base the decision to change on whichever was the cheapest. Having said that the current EC might also just select the cheapest and not interview.

The quotes range from $3200 to $5500 and our current company charges towards the high end.

The current agreement requires no less than 3 months written notice to terminate.

[Author]

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