[daphne diaphanous]

The SM convinces most of the OC that there is no need for an audit. Our SP has not been audited for over a decade.

[daphne diaphanous]

I think they gave you the proverbial finger JimmyT.

[daphne diaphanous]

Thank you Whale. The reason we added any agenda items for the proposed budget in the first place is because whatever we say during budget discussions will not be recorded in the minutes. As separate agenda items, they could not be reasonably excluded from the final version. However, our items have been included along with another owner’s totally unrelated items under a single heading, to be decided upon by the AGM, whether to discuss them at all. I’m unable to add anymore for obvious reasons. Any future action by us will be countered with “why didn’t you say so at the time” & we won’t be able to defend it, because there will be no record of our questions or dissensions in the minutes. 

[daphne diaphanous]

The SM, who prepares the AGM agenda has issued the final version, with all our proposed items placed for discussion, well after the proposed budget is discussed & approved (it’s never not approved). Some of those items relate to the proposed budget (any further clarification would make our SP, therefore SM, identifiable). Is it even legal?

[daphne diaphanous]

Dear Whale, your suggestion to Phil to make his own inquiries with the strata insurer is a good one; however, if his SP’s insurer is the same or similar to ours, he won’t get any joy. Our insurer refuses to deal with the owners, apparently because the SM is the client, rather than us.

[daphne diaphanous]

Democracy, with a capital D once again.

[daphne diaphanous]

Sheer malice. The gurus of this forum remind us regularly, that the whole strata scheme is based on & meant to operate as a democracy. Democracy doesn’t work well in practice anywhere in the world, leaving close to half of all democratic populations dissatisfied at all times. Nepotocracy is the inevitable result of democracy in practice.

[daphne diaphanous]

Thank you for the post Verago. Very educational, even though it left me speechless.

[daphne diaphanous]

Thank you Whale. Our main income is the interest on our smallish sinking fund in a term investment, which is well below $1,000 per annum. There are also occasional small sums earned from the interest on delayed levy payments. There may be more earned from our quarterly admin fund account, but I haven’t seen any in the accounts presented by the SM. As far as we can tell all the strata income is ploughed back into the admin fund. Mind you, we do pay some tax, possibly around $300 or less, part of it being PAYG. So, in these circumstances, we shouldn’t be needing the audit insurance.

[daphne diaphanous]

Dear Whale, the tail wags the dog in our SP as well, because the pack of dogs in the majority are only too happy being wagged by the tail. We are only puppies in this SP, but we’ll be darned if we’ll yield ownership of the tail. So there.

[daphne diaphanous]

Sounds like ours. Good luck. It is a very long road.

[daphne diaphanous]

Becks, you don’t need a power of attorney, but a proxy from your parents, using the official proxy form. They can make it a general one for 12 months & renew it annually. You need to keep in mind that they can override it anytime they choose to. 

[daphne diaphanous]

Thank you Millie. We do intend to take our camera & yes, we too expect vanishing documents.

[daphne diaphanous]

I like it kiwipaul. You’re a genius.

[daphne diaphanous]

Thank you Whale. We’ll take your advice & specify our requirements. Their web site boasts of electronic record management leading to speedy documents retrieval, which we’ll quote in our request.

[Author]

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