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Hi Roland,
Indeed your water usage is high. It is great to see that you are looking into it.
Working backwards $8000 equals about 3,846kl per annum. The Green Strata website shows that the average water usage in apartments should be between 200 – 300 litres /per bedroom/day.
In your instance, the usage (assuming they are 12 x 2 bedrooms) appears to be about 440 litres per bedroom/per day which would put you in the high usage category.
Most water usage in apartment buildings is known to be within apartments – 86%. Things to think about – are there likely to be mainly single flush toilets, old non-water saving shower heads, leaking taps & showers in your building?
If you think this likely to be the case suggest you get an estimate for Waterfix® from Sydney Water
https://www.sydneywater.com.au/SW/your-home/helping-you-save-water/waterfix-strata/index.htm
There may also be some kind of leak somewhere on common property that is not immediately apparent. Worth investigating.
And just to clarify the $700 charge you mention to each unit is the standard fixed charges which include water & wastewater service, not to be confused with actual usage. Usage charges are most commonly charged to the strata scheme as it is only recently that individual water meters have started to be installed in strata buildings.
Hope this helps explain.
Strata Answers
strataanswers.com.au
Perhaps more for the general interest of anyone reading this post ( Colonel Schulz is focused on the need for the strata manager to give notice ) you may be fazed by seeing in your agreement a requirement that the OC gives Notice TO the strata manager if they wish to terminate – Prior to the 2015 Act not giving Notice could mean that an OC could be caught up in an Agreement that extended for a new term beyond the expiry date by default – a hazard for the unwary.
With the 2015 Act the max term for a Strata Management Agreement is 3 years and, as Keymaster says, it can ONLY be extended by resolution of the strata committee and then for a limited time. This effectively makes Notice by either party of less consequence when an agreement is coming up to a full 3 year term.
The pre 2015 Act 3 year agreements are now coming to an end but if your agreement has a Notice provision, giving Notice per the agreement, whilst not necessary to avoid a renewal of the agreement does provide protection, unless you are comfortable with the strata manager exercising the limited 3 month extension option afforded to them by s50 (7).
Tom – After reading your story it seems like there is a world of difference between what you can technically do and what is practical under the circumstances.
If you wanted to have a talk with us at Strata Answers about options open to you, we would be happy to hear from you.
Hi Flatchatter,
It certainly can be very confusing. How do you compare all the various options? Who do you trust?
We find the best way is to run a tender process.
Firstly we establish what the committee wants from a strata manager. Build a scope and then take this to tender. We then evaluate the responses and present to the committee. The committee then interview the most suitable candidate/s & make their selection.
We are able to assist you with this process. If you are interested send us an email & we can certainly put you in touch with other committee members who have taken this route and have found it extremely helpful.
Strata Answers
Strata Answers runs Tenders for Strata Management and the process is rigorous. It follows the principle that “Keymaster” highlighted – that the Agreed Fee should include ALL routine duties so as to minimise the Extras “Sch B Fees,” over which there can be little verification or control.
Tenders are based on services a particular scheme considers relevant to their needs ( no. of strata meetings included etc) and conducted via a formal process culminating in interview by the Committee.
A tight process is likely to see some of the less customer focused strata managers drop out as their cookie cutter agreements are unacceptable.
As you know social media is awash with bouquets and brickbats for strata managers and is of no real help. There are sites that will find you a strata manager for free, but beware, these sites are often commissioned from the first year of your strata management fees and many strata managers are not listed because they do not wish to be party to such fee arrangements.
Strata Answers declares its interest in fee based Strata Manager Tendering, but trusts the above assists.
Hi Barney,
Not sure whether you are a newish building concerned about catching defects before the 2 years warranty on non structural items runs out or whether you are looking at documenting those defects covered by the 6 year warranty.
Whichever it is, your forward thinking is admirable and the question around the qualifications of your defects consultant most relevant. The type of consultant you engage would depend upon the nature of the defects you anticipate. Some things to think about:
- What sort of consultant do you need? You may need more than one specialist. For instance fire related defects require the services of a fire services consultant
- Your consultant needs to be able to report concisely and methodically – sounds obvious but we have seen reports that do not focus specifically on those issues that are the subject of the warranty claim.
- You may have the same defect repeated in multiple places. Your consultant must document each and every one of these instances, as opportunities for claiming a defect as systemic or generic are limited.
- Think about whether your claim might have to be litigated – might have to be a considerable $ sum to make this worthwhile, but if it is, you will need a consultant who has had experience giving evidence in court
- Top end of town engineers are not always the best people to identify defects. You might well be better off with a Building Consultant who has had practical building experience – especially for defects like waterproofing
- Getting access to apartments in a 105 unit development can be a challenge. There may be instances where your consultant considers that inspection of a sample of units may be adequate, but you need to be prepared to put perhaps multiple consultants through all the apartments, perhaps on more than one occasion. How flexible is the consultant with their scheduling ?
Timing is Critical
We have seen schemes where the developer and builder offer continuous assurances that the defects will be fixed, all this whilst the time window for getting a consultant’s report and lodging a claim gets ever smaller.
It sounds like you are on top the claims process but many warranty claims have failed for being technically out of time.
As you probably know, the time clock for claims on home building warranties starts ticking when the building work is completed (practical completion) which may well be a date before any owner has moved into their apartment. If you have any doubts about the timeframe for lodging your defects claim, legal advice is vital.
At Strata Answers we work with owners and Strata Committees guiding them through the defects claim process and providing the sort of hands on assistance that many strata managers do not have the resources to do. We are always pleased to assist.
Think of “Podcasts” as “radio on demand” and it’s all a lot less daunting
A Lot owner enters into a standard 12 month lease agreement with the Tennant. No special conditions. The tenant lists one of the rooms in the 3 bed apartment on Airbnb whilst he lives there permanently
The Lot owner doesn’t mind the Airbnb happening. It causes no disturbance to other residents and helps the tenants pay the rent.
The strata manager emails a letter to the tenants (not the owner) telling them to stop hosting on Airbnb based on their by-law 17.
17. The Body Corporate will not approve short term holiday rental of units. For example “Air bnb” or similar type short term holiday exchange rental. Short term is less than six months.
The tenants believe they are within their rights to host their spare room on airbnb based on s.139(2) SSMA 2015 and information from the local council (see below).
The tenants receive a 2nd email from the strata manager with general advice attached on what is happening with future legislation from their Solicitors. The email threatens to take action against the lot owner if the tenants do not cease the Airbnb.
As the lot-owner has a 12 month lease with the tenant and the tenant is a permanent resident in the apartment it is believed that the request to stop listing their spare room on Airbnb is unjust and goes against section s.139(2) SSMA 2015 of Act.
The tenants believe that if this goes to NCAT and the adjudication rules in favour of the strata scheme, the outcome would be a $1500 fine to the owner (which the tenant would pay) and instruction to take down the listing and that is all.
- Is this correct or are there more serious consequences?
- If the issue does progress to NCAT, do you think there is a good chance that NCAT will rule in favour of the Strata Scheme?
- As the tenant lives in the apartment and does not offer breakfast, we believe we may fall under councils section Subdivision 22 Home businesses which would mean we aren’t breaking any council regulations either. Have you heard of this argument being used?
Other information
Building is in the R3 zone ( Bed and breakfasts allowed with CDC)
Tenants have been advised in writing by a compliance officer at local council that‘If a premises is being used unlawfully for tourist and visitor accommodation, Council has discretion in deciding whether to take enforcement action against any person who it considers to be in breach of the law, based on the available evidence and other circumstances such as the impending changes to NSW planning laws that will allow short term holiday lettings….
Currently Council is not taking action against an owner who is using their premises for short term accommodation unless the use is causing detrimental and direct amenity impacts on other residents.”
Tenants have been verbally advised by council that as they do not provide breakfast, they do not comply with the requirements of a Bed and breakfast which is allowed with consent and advised not to apply.
We [may] fall under the Subdivision 22 Home businesses 2.43 specified development which is exempt of a CDC.
That’s the trouble with a problem-solving website … only people with problems write to you.
Noting you have it in writing that the OC owns the fence and you have an identified safety issue, you need to focus on the safety issue.
All correspondence must be in writing to protect yourself and ensure responsibility remains with the OC and the committee retains ownership of the safety issue. This will ensure they are responsible for any adverse event.
I suggest you write an email noting the OC ownership of the wall in their correspondence of xx date and that you have since obtained an engineer’s report outlining the safety issues.
Attach the report to the email. Ask them to urgently attend to the safety issue. Also, ask for a timeline on when it will be rectified. Keep diligent records of the whole matter from your initial contact with the OC. Take lots of photos, especially where there is current damage to the wall.
Maybe a fellow Flatchatter can advise if the OC will then be personally liable should an incident occur.
Finally, keep personalities out of the issue, Just the facts, totally unemotional and factual. Your requirement is for a safe resolution to a potentially dangerous situation.
What state are you in? This will inform Flatchatters of the applicable legal process. Also, what is the basis of your tenancy? Current lease expiring soon? Or a long time until expiry? Or a month to month tenancy?
It is important to know this for fellow Flatchatters to frame an appropriate response.
For example: Are you on a lease that is expiring in four weeks? If so and the notice was properly served then you may not have any options but to leave.
Regardless of your situation, talk to the REA. If they consider you a good tenant then they will probably want to retain you and may offer other premises on their books. After all they will know how you treat the residence and whether or not you pay rent in a timely manner etcetera.
Your local tenant’s union will also be able to provide advice.
So does the penalty noted above apply for every change of tenant?
I.e. if the tenant changes every two weeks and the landlord/agent fails to notify the OC then a new penalty is incurred? Noting that the two week leeway in advising the OC means that the tenant details will be out of date.
What if the lessee is a business and they change workers on a regular business? Does the OC get to know the names of the new residents each changeover noting that the lessee remains the same?
Has such a by-law previously been required in your building? If so see if you can use the same documents for your renovations.
You may need to pay the drafter a fee or share the fee with the person who originally paid for it, but this will be cheaper than starting from scratch.
This also has the advantage of the committee not having to wade through new terminology or style of writing and noting it has previously been approved then passing your by-law.
Happy bathroom renovations.
Cameras are useless, they were put in our block at great expense and quickly smashed, the best would be to circulate the note that is mentioned.