Forum Replies Created
-
Replies
-
As a WA strata owner I applied to inspect all strata records in March 2017 and, despite the committee approving the request …
I’m curious as to why your committee approved your request. When I’ve inspected records, I’ve taken the position that the COO has no right to prevent owners viewing records because this is covered by the legislation.
ShouldWhen the matter of cost are raised, I’ve made the argument that because this is also covered by the legislation, it’s something the strata manager needs to bear.This is not to say that a simple request to view records has been simple. My last request took over two months of back and forth before I was reluctantly allowed to view records for two hours at the Strata Manager’s offices.
I am interested, however, in Flatchatters’ experiences in coming up against this rule. I’m also curious to know how you’d feel about having your email address available to your fellow residents and owners, in exchange for theirs being available to you.
When I bought my WA unit 11 years ago, the strata manager supplied email addresses along with postal addresses.
A few years later, when I sought to update my records, my request to update email addresses was rejected citing privacy concerns. Postal addresses were updated.
Two years ago, the same request from a different strata manager was rejected on the basis that email addresses were not part of the strata role.
My attitude is that in 2020, an email address is essential to communication, whether between owners or the strata manager. I have no problem with my email address being provided to other owners.
As @Lady Penelope & @Jimmy-T have pointed out, it is your right to view this information. There are various extra hurdles that may be required to do this in particular states, and some of these hurdles may be insurmountable (eg. the requirement that you view records in person if you live interstate, implying that they can’t be made available electronically)
The difficulty is that some strata managers appear to treat this right as an optional inconvenience, pushing back at every opportunity. Examples have been initially charging a fee and referring the request to the strata committee amongst others.
Having done this dance a couple of times, I can only suggest to persist. It is frustrating, but you have every right. It’s your property.
How do you know the fees are a ‘blatant rip off’? What of the complex’ long-term maintenance plan?
In my experience, it is easy for a COO (EC …) do be doing a lot which may not be apparent to owners or residents. While big-ticket jobs such as paining are easy to spot, much of the week-week requirements are not. It may be that your fees are too low.
My strong suggestion is to get involved and to try to understand the problems.
For the record, WA requires over 50% majority from all owners to remove the COO in an extraordinary general meeting. This requires proxies to be arranged, which can be difficult and time consuming if the strata manager declines to provide email addresses citing privacy. They are required to provide postal addresses with the strata role.
Interesting regulations where it seems that 1 lot does not equal 1 vote ….
The legislation in your state may be different. However, in WA, it may be worthwhile noting that strata committees have a minimum (3) and a maximum (7) number of members. The number of members on a particular committee is set at the AGM. It may be that your strata committee has a vacancy.
Over the past two years, our (WA) strata has gone from a reasonable knowledge of what has been spent on work through evaluation of at least three quotes per job to complete ignorance after a change in strata manager. Current strata manager policy is that they provide only two quotes, and do not provide job costings despite being requested to. Of course, costings can be obtained by inspecting the records, but naturally, they’re not too keen on that either. Records are the property of all owners, not the strata manager.
We narrowly avoided an instance of an unlicensed painter being used to paint the complex on the recommendation of the strata manager. It took a small amount of owner effort to discover that the painter, apparently a strata manager regular, had been unregistered for three years ….
The wheel turns towards sanity & knowledge, but it’s slow …
My point is that some work is required to manage both the job and the strata manager, and that sometimes, that work can seem pointless since the strata manager is being paid to look after that sort of thing. It’s not made easier by COO members who do not want to put in the work to manage the strata manager to ensure that we are getting value for money.