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Dealing with the matter in reverse order, you could dispute the result of votes at the AGM, but only if the disallowed vote would have made a difference. There is no “fruit of the poisoned tree” in this regard. Votes at the AGM are otherwise valid.
Should the strata manager have said you were “unfinancial”? If you owed money, yes. But since you didn’t actually owe the money it’s hard to fathom why they did this.
Actually, this is a very common form of financial bullying where committees tell the strata manager that they don’t think they should pay all or part of a bill like this and then the logical result is that you are rendered unfinancial.
In your situation, provided there are no other issues about who is responsible for what repairs, I would write to the strata manager and committee demanding that they withdraw the bill and issue a public apology, copied to all owners, admitting that they mishandled the situation.
If they refuse, take them to Fair Trading for mediation and report the strata manager to Fair Trading and the SCA (NSW) for misconduct and, in the case of SCA, breaching their code of conduct.
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Owners in two-lot strata schemes can agree to not have strata insurance if their homes are separate and there is no common property that needs cover (such as driveways and parking areas, for instance).
Problems can arise when one owner wants shared insurance and the other owner has an insurance package that may, for instance, also include home and contents and even car insurance.
It can differ greatly from scheme to scheme and it’s well worth checking out beforehand.
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is there a provision under the SSMA to go to NCAT to have the Strata manager removed.
Section 72.
72 Strata managing agent and building manager agreements may be terminated or varied by Tribunal(1) The Tribunal may, on application by an owners corporation for a strata scheme, make any of the following orders in respect of an agreement for the appointment of a strata managing agent or building manager for the scheme—
(a) an order terminating the agreement,
(b) an order requiring the payment of compensation to a party to the agreement,
(c) an order varying the term, or varying or declaring void any of the conditions, of the agreement,
(d) an order that a party to the agreement take any action or not take any action under the agreement,
(e) an order dismissing the application.
(2) If the Tribunal makes an order terminating the agreement, the Tribunal may also order the strata managing agent or building manager to return to the owners corporation, within the period specified in the order, any documents or other records relating to the strata scheme that are in the possession of the agent or manager.
(3) The Tribunal may make an order under this section on any of the following grounds—
(a) that the strata managing agent or building manager has refused or failed to perform the agreement or has performed it unsatisfactorily,
(b) that charges payable by the owners corporation under the agreement are unfair,
(c) that the strata managing agent has contravened section 58 (2),
(d) that the strata managing agent has failed to disclose commissions or training services (including estimated commissions or value of training services or variations and explanations for variations) in accordance with section 60 or has failed to make the disclosures in good faith,
(e) that the strata managing agent or building manager has failed to disclose an interest under section 71,
(f) that the agreement is, in the circumstances of the case, otherwise harsh, oppressive, unconscionable or unreasonable.
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i think the other responders have missed your point.
Some did, but then the discussion moved on to the general merits of drying clothes on balconies, But, true, there’s not much you can do about the behaviour of people in completely separate strata schemes. Even if they had a by-law banning laundry, no one who wasn’t an owner or tenant in that building could do anything about it.
It’s worth noting that the model by-laws for new buildings seem to have changed in this regard, with the default position to be to allow washing to be dried on the balcony. Section 14 “Hanging out of washing” says in item 2,
An owner or occupier of a lot may hang washing on any part of the lot other than over the balcony railings. The washing may only be hung for a reasonable period.
Compare that with the model by-laws for pre-1996 blocks, which say in Section 10:
Drying of laundry itemsAn owner or occupier of a lot must not, except with the consent in writing of the owners corporation, hang any washing, towel, bedding, clothing or other article on any part of the parcel in such a way as to be visible from outside the building other than on any lines provided by the owners corporation for the purpose and there only for a reasonable period.
That’s another change that’s been quietly introduced via the Regulations.
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Potentially 12 people per floor and wanting to use the clothesline as there are no private balconies. I wonder how the residents manage.
In the old days, small schemes worked out a rota for the clothes lines. It worked to a point except when someone forgot to take their washing in and found it dumped on the ground on someone else’s drying days.
By the way, I’m looking at my previous response, predicting extreme weather events, back in 2018. Not much chance of getting your laundry dry in a flood-prone area.
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I just want to get an idea for what’s feasible I suppose.
It shouldn’t be an issue if you take ongoing responsibility for any damage cause to common property.
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I am considering going to strata and looking to have a socket installed, but this might be a tough ask.
Installing electrical wiring and sockets is a “minor” alteration under NSW strata law, which means all you have to do is tell the committee what you are doing and get their approval which may not be unreasonably refused. If you can show that it will be done by a professional and it won’t irretrievably damage common property, they probably don’t have grounds for refusal.
Section 110 (linked above) says:
1) The owner of a lot in a strata scheme may carry out work for the purposes of minor renovations to common property in connection with the owner’s lot with the approval of the owners corporation given by resolution at a general meeting. A special resolution authorising the work is not required.
(2) The approval may be subject to reasonable conditions imposed by the owners corporation and cannot be unreasonably withheld by the owners corporation.
Many strata committees take the view that “approval of the owners corporation given by resolution at a general meeting” means that the committee can make that decision provided they have been delegated broad powers to do so at a general meeting.
I would talk to your strata manager or committee secretary before you start messing with the aircon power supply.
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I would think any “grounds” would be in your strata management contract – but I bet there aren’t. NSW strata management contracts are notoriously one-sided, but yet we keep signing them. However, they are up for a major review, so that’s something.
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How could a strata loan help you?
Because you pay it off over a longer period, obviously, on a reducing balance over a 10-year period. Some people simply can’t lay their hands on a lazy $80-100k in one hit. The problem is that the law doesn’t allow the strata owners to choose – it’s either all special levy or all loan. That’s what really sucks. People who can afford it should be allowed to pay their share up front, the others could pay off a smaller loan – if the law allowed it.
Or do you think people should be forced to sell their homes if they can’t afford a special levy?
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This looks very suspicious. Three committee members sell out just before a special levy of on average $80,000 per unit is required.
First, you need to get legal advice from a specialised strata lawyer. Our sponsors Bannermans and Sachs Gerace (ads on the Forum page) are both excellent.
Then you need to find out what has triggered this requirement for an upgrade.
There is no requirement to upgrade balconies to current standards unless something else in the block has needed planning approval.(See comments below)Also, there must be cheaper alternatives available. Many schemes simply raise the effective height of the balcony by adding a toughened glass screen to the top of the existing structure. That would not require tiling or the $2 million of work.
You need to collect enough signatures to call another meeting to discuss this (25 per cent of owners) and agree on another plan. The owners corp (all owners) can overturn its previous decisions at a subsequent general meeting.
Notwithstanding cheaper alternatives, you should be looking at a strata loan to spread the financial pain over several years.
Also, subject to legal advice, you probably need to start action at Fair Trading to get interim orders to stop this process before it goes too far.
And you might want to try to find out how much the recent committee members who sold out knew about this, and whether or not they told prospective purchasers.
There’s a lot to do but the first thing would be to contact all the other owners and tell them they are betr options available, and call a specialised strata lawyer as soon as possible.
Alternatively, you could approach another of our sponsors, Strata Answers, who will provide expert advice (at a modest cost).
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Take them to Fair Trading for mediation over Section 106 of the Act which requires the Owners Corp to maintain and repair common property. They can only decide not to do that by a special resolution and provided that it doesn’t detract from the appearance of the scheme.
If nothing else it will show them that they can be too clever for their own good when they start manipulating agendas.
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