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Sounds fishy, possibly fraudulent. Who are these invoices payable to? If they’re to the strata manager, even more suss. Whilst anyone can claim accounts rendered up to six years ago, it doesn’t make any financial sense to let these matters go for months or years. The manager needs to account to the plan by providing basic records. Have you had your plan audited by an independent auditor? If so why didn’t they pick up on the uncharged amounts, worth asking them.
If the invoices are for strata services they need to be verified against the charges scheduled in the Management Agreement.
Thanks Jimmy for the correction. In sealion’s case it would seem that there has been no special levy raised and that the expense has been charged to either the admin or sinking fund. I’d doubt whether the legal counsel would want to wait for that process to take place and the remaining owners to eventually pay up. So shouldn’t sealion be asking that the correct process be followed so that the special levy is struck, and reimbursed to the appropriate fund. He wouldn’t then be charged that levy for his share, and no refund would be involved to himself.
Why should you get anything back? You’re not outside the Owners Corporation, you are part of it and are liable for its expenses to the extent of your unit entitlement. That would include legal fees.
Matt
Whilst I’m sorry to hear about the demise of your friend’s cat, I can’t see why you think that suing the Owners Corporation would be a reasonable option.
It seems that both animals were on common property without any form of control or supervision. If I had a fight with my neighbour on common property, and lost out, having to fork out for medical expenses as a result, would you think it fair and reasonable that I sue the owners corporation to recover my costs (+presumably the lawyers fees?)
What was the Owners Corporation able to do to prevent this animal attack. Should they have had a guard on duty 24/7 watching over every square inch of common property so that they could intervene?
If your friend wants to seek to amend the by-laws to prevent dogs being allowed that is their prerogative. But why penalise those dog owners who are responsible and keep their dogs on a leash and under control when on common property?
Ozzietars should carefully read the Strata Management agreement as the fees charged by a Strata Manager are often dependent on a commission being received from the Owners Corporation insurer. If there’s no commission then under the terms the Manager may charge the Owners Corporation more in fees to compensate. In the case he outlines his Strata Manager is certainly going to receive a windfall from the doubling of the commission, so there is certainly room to negotiate a reduction in fees when the agreement comes up for renewal. You’ll find that’s in itself a good reason not to enter into these agreements for too long a term.
There are arguments for and against self management of Strata Schemes, but like Whale I find that commission system is very fuzzy, but like the airlines with add-on charges for almost everything under the sun it has become entrenched, and without our governments being really committed to consumer protection, it won’t go away in a hurry.
The local council should be advised, they could send out an ordnance inspector to deal with the owner. The building presumably is in a residential zone, and no doubt the original development approval was for residential use.
As far as the strata scheme is concerned, the coming and going of trucks can be against your by-laws, particularly when it causes obstruction and inconvenience to other residents. Does the owner have one or more cars, if so are they parked on common property instead of in the garage, in contravention of a by-law?
And since food and drink are involved, are these refrigerated in the garage?
Often the power supply to the garages will be on a metered supply which is billed to the owners corporation. Under those circumstances refrigerators and freezers will be costing the owners significant amounts of money. Worth while checking out, you don’t want to be copping the inconvenience of some-one using part of their lot illegally for commercial purposes and having to subsidise their business as well.
Can understand your apprehension, but so far you’ve not entered into any binding contract to complete the purchase the property. One of the problems in buying off the plan which you have now realised is that you don’t have any track record of this particular developer. There is some good general advice on the Fair trading website about buying off the plan, paying deposits and exchanging contracts, and the cooling off provisions after exchange of contracts.
Now where did you pay the $1000 deposit? If you paid it to the developer rather than into a licensed real estate agent trust fund, it may be at greater risk. In any case, write and ask for it back. It’s your money, not theirs.
Whilst that’s an interesting question, I would point out that the Strata Scheme itself is not a ratepayer, nor can it vote in (or out) members of the Council. My belief is that the affected unit owners should all be encouraged to prepare individual submissions on the application reflecting their concerns.
DaveB
Peter
Have just looked at the Queensland legislation entitled Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 and indeed there is a code of conduct for EC Members at Schedule 1A. Similar provisions apply to the ACT legislation about members acting fairly, acting in the best interests of the body corporate and disclosing any conflict of interest.
DaveB
It would be worthwhile to do a little arithmetic when notifying the other unit owners how much this service is costing them individually. If all unit entitlements were equal, it would be $858 per lot, quite a substantial sum.
The other aspect is whether this individual is declaring the income received in their tax return, a call or message to the ATO dob-in line may be in order.
Regards
DaveB
Hi Boronia
I wouldn’t place any reliance on agents to check the condition of common property when tenants leave the building. Whilst agents are required to be rather meticulous in detailing the condition of leased property at the beginning of a tenancy I’ve never known them to be interested at all in the common property. The only way you can be assured that departing tenants don’t leave their junk on common property is vigilance by the other residents or management in the block. If no one bothers to complain then whole complex suffers.
Hi Cap’n
As you’ve stacked the stuff in the street you could be facing the wrath of the local council, and possibly be fined if it isn’t removed. Whilst understanding your action in making the area safe, it would have been better to come to an agreement with your landlord/agent beforehand about the costs involved. As in Gumball’s case you have the right to live in secure and safe premises, including the yard, and were entitled to claim a rent reduction if you couldn’t use that part of your leased area through it being unsafe. I’d put it to your landlord/agent that you have saved them a considerable sum of money by cutting up and removing the dead tree, and now you’d like them to arrange removal from the footpath as soon as possible. If they don’t come to the party, then I’d suggest you retrospectively claim the rent reduction so you’re not further out of pocket.
Have a look at your Strata Plan By-laws. He’s quite clearly in breach of two by-laws if he had done this in our strata scheme. He’s deposited material on common property without permission, and he’s also caused obstruction to anyone else using common property. Consult your Strata Manager about issuing a Notice to Comply with a By-law, depending on his delegation he may be able to do this directly, or it may require an Executive Committee resolution.
The Notice must be served on the offending resident, if no action is taken within the period stipulated on the notice then an application may be made to NCAT to impose a fine for that breach and any subsequent breaches. You have one year after the service to request enforcement.
Refer also to what Whale said a couple of posts back on this topic.
From what you say I’d doubt that these are fire doors, unlike in a block where entrances are off common stairways and internal hallways. Check around the door, are the door frames metal (cold to touch and a magnet will attach), if not the doors are likely to be non-fire rated. Fire doors also have a metal label attached on the hinged side edge, (sometimes painted over).
I’m with Whale on this, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. There are a lot of cowboys out there in the roof restoration industry. It’s worth looking at the Monier website, according to it concrete tiles actually become less porous as they age.
Also look at the Whirlpool forums on the subject.
Whilst older rooves lose their gloss and street appeal, coatings and paints don’t usually last very long in such a harsh environment. Sure they look great for a few months or perhaps up to a year after application, but they start to break down after that and ultimately often look worse than if you left the roof alone in the first place.