[Jimmy-T]

Converting Word docs to PDFs is free. Converting PDFs to Word can be done online for free or very cheaply if you have the software.  I can’t really see how this would be a huge expense (unless someone is having a lend of you).

If you want to be alerted when anyone replies to your posts or responds to this topic, please register and login, then you will be able to subscribe to the topic. The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers. NB: Longer threads may spill over to additional pages - look for the numbers on the bottom right, under the last post.

[Jimmy-T]

Two questions.

You have posted in a Victoria sub-forum.  Why are you referring to NCAT (it’s VCAT in Vic)?

Secondly, how did you end up with a one-person committee?  That’s where your problems begin and end.

If you want to be alerted when anyone replies to your posts or responds to this topic, please register and login, then you will be able to subscribe to the topic. The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers. NB: Longer threads may spill over to additional pages - look for the numbers on the bottom right, under the last post.

[Jimmy-T]

The obvious question that occurs to me is, although the original owner owns half the lots, does he own more than half the Unit Entitlements.

If so, his voting power should have been reduced by two-thirds and that may be grounds for going to NCAT to have that last AGM election declared invalid and a new election held.

Also, was proper procedure for the election  followed as per Section 9 of the Strata Regulations?

And finally, you don’t need to wait for the one-man committee or the strata manager to do something about the tenant.  You and other owners can take action at NCAT for breaches of by-laws or you can even take actions against the committee for failure to enforce the block’s by-laws.

But you will need to get the support of at least two more owners if you want to pursue this, otherwise you will still be outvoted when it comes to the election.

I strongly recommend you contact our sponsors Strata Answers and ask how they might be able to guide you through this mess.

If you want to be alerted when anyone replies to your posts or responds to this topic, please register and login, then you will be able to subscribe to the topic. The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers. NB: Longer threads may spill over to additional pages - look for the numbers on the bottom right, under the last post.

[Jimmy-T]

This is what the relevant section of the new Public Health Order, now online, says:

Self-isolation

The Public Health (COVID-19 Self-Isolation) Order (No 3) 2021 requires persons diagnosed with COVID-19 and close contacts of persons diagnosed with COVID-19 to self-isolate and specifies requirements for self-isolation including duration and location.

On 6 September 2021 the Minister made the Public Health (COVID-19 Self-Isolation) Order (No 3) 2021 which repeals and remakes the directions in the Public Health (COVID-19 Self-Isolation) Order (No 2) 2021.

The revised Order continues existing self-isolation of cases and close contacts but now includes additional provisions to support apartment lockdowns.

The new lockdown provisions are:

• The Minister can declare a building  as a “high contact risk premises”. A building is defined as containing  2 or more dwellings, at least 1 of which is a “COVID-19 premises” (a dwelling where at least one person is diagnosed with COVID-19 or a close contact). The Minister is able to declare a premises as high risk for a maximum period of 14 days, but can be re-issued;
• The Order applies to an “affected person”, being a resident or any other person who is on the premises at the time the declaration is made;
• The Order imposes tight restrictions that reflect quarantine order provisions, including confining residents to their home, subject to an emergency or instructions of an authorised medical officer or Commissioner of Police, and restricted access to the building to permitted persons;
• provision is made for an affected person to be transferred to a quarantine facility or hospital or medical facility after assessment by an authorised medical officer;
• provision for testing of affected persons during the lockdown, with those who refuse testing being required to stay in their residence until medically cleared;
• provision for a person involved in the management of the building to provide information that will assist in the identification of affected persons.

Any requirement to quarantine under the previous Order continues under the new Order.

The Order requires compliance with the NSW Health self isolation guidelines, which may change from time to time.

If you want to be alerted when anyone replies to your posts or responds to this topic, please register and login, then you will be able to subscribe to the topic. The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers. NB: Longer threads may spill over to additional pages - look for the numbers on the bottom right, under the last post.

[Jimmy-T]

The only relevant restrictions on bylaws are that it can’t be harsh, unconscionable or oppressive.

Asking for a by-law that gives blanket approval to an undefined plan is not enough.

Now this is not the law (apart from 1. and 2.) but I would draw a by-law to include:

1. Details of what common property will be changed and how it will be changed (Section 142 of the Act).
2. Who will be responsible for the common property affected by the work (Section 143). The answer must be them.
3. Details of a “bond” to be paid against damages and costs incurred (to be repaid if no costs accrue)
4. Limits on times of noisy work
5. Proposals for removal of rubble etc
6. Proposals for protecting common property while materials are being delivered
7. Arrangement for parking of tradies’ vehicles and storage of materials (Even if you are providing neither)
8. Agreement on penalties for breaching the terms of the by-law.
9. Agreement that all work will cease if the terms of the agreement are breached, until such times as the dispute is resolved.

This is perfectly reasonable to protect the other owners and common property.  Good luck getting it through.

If you want to be alerted when anyone replies to your posts or responds to this topic, please register and login, then you will be able to subscribe to the topic. The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers. NB: Longer threads may spill over to additional pages - look for the numbers on the bottom right, under the last post.

[Jimmy-T]

I know it’s a pain but create a gmail address for your strata communications.  Set that account to forward all messages to both your individual accounts.

Send a couple of test emails to the new gmail account to make sure it’s working then give the gmail address to the strata manager.

Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy.

If you want to be alerted when anyone replies to your posts or responds to this topic, please register and login, then you will be able to subscribe to the topic. The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers. NB: Longer threads may spill over to additional pages - look for the numbers on the bottom right, under the last post.

[Jimmy-T]

On the same topic, this is what the Public Health Order says about police questioning residents’

…  if a police officer knocks at a door of the premises—a person … is required to open the door and comply with the request of the officer, and a request for information may include a request to provide the name and contact details of persons residing or present at the premises, whether at the time of the request or generally.

Now, given that elsewhere in the PHO the word “premises” means the unit block, are you expected to open the door of the block to the police? And are you then expected to give the contact details of everyone you know in the block?

Obviously not, but this is the kind of loophole through which anti-vaxxers will ride their legalogic train.

FYI, the PHO doesn’t define “premises” but it says “dwelling” is the same as is defined in the Local Environmental Plan Act, which is: ‘a room or suite of rooms occupied or used or so constructed or adapted as to be capable of being occupied or used as a separate domicile’.

So “dwelling” clearly doesn’t mean the same as “premises”. This is just sloppy writing than can easily lead to unnecessary conflict and confusion.

If you want to be alerted when anyone replies to your posts or responds to this topic, please register and login, then you will be able to subscribe to the topic. The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers. NB: Longer threads may spill over to additional pages - look for the numbers on the bottom right, under the last post.

[Jimmy-T]

Currently the law allows any strata scheme in NSW to hold meetings online and voting can be conducted either directly, by pre-meeting votes or directly by proxy.  However, pre-meeting electronic votes are not permitted in the case of elections.

The reason the law calls for  the blank sheet of paper is so that owners corps can’t issue default lists of their preferred candidates (although many still do) to the exclusion of those they don’t want.

There are off-the-peg programs available (like StrataVote) that may accommodate this, but I would think a simple solution would be for the secretary to issue blank emails with just the words “Strata Scheme No. XXXX Committee Election” in the subject line and – during the Zoom meeting and not before – invite owners to fill in the names themselves and hit return.  Each email would have a time stamp and identify the owner by default which would get around multiple votes.  And the owners could return ballots as proxies on the same basis.

There may be  a more elegant or simpler solution out there – if so, let’s hear it.  One suggestion is to delay the election until after the lockdowns are over, as the existing committee can stay in office until a new one is elected.  But I can think of a couple of strata schemes where that would not go down well at all.

If you want to be alerted when anyone replies to your posts or responds to this topic, please register and login, then you will be able to subscribe to the topic. The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers. NB: Longer threads may spill over to additional pages - look for the numbers on the bottom right, under the last post.

[Jimmy-T]

There is much confusion over this and you would think that a failure of common property causing damage elsewhere would see the costs sheeted back to the owners corp. But then it gets complicated by the idea that the OC needs to have been negligent – i.e. they failed to maintain common property and that failure had forseeable consequences.

There’s also a lot of discussion about this on the internet in various legal and strata management sites

Section 106 of the Strata Schemes Management Act says an owners corporation must properly maintain common property and keep  it in a state of good and serviceable repair.

It also says lot owners may recover expenses and damages from the Owners Corporation because they’ve failed to repair and maintain common property.

However, as has frequently been pointed out on this website, sometimes this simplest solution is to by-pass the strata committee and strata manager and make a claim directly to the strata insurer (they will be named on your latest AGM minutes).

The insurer, who would have to pay up if the OC lost at NCAT or in court, will quickly assess their liability and might decide to pay up rather than have to pay the costs of legal defence then have to pay up anyway.

It’s worth a phone call but don’t expect your strata manager to help if they are already throwing up obstacles.

 

If you want to be alerted when anyone replies to your posts or responds to this topic, please register and login, then you will be able to subscribe to the topic. The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers. NB: Longer threads may spill over to additional pages - look for the numbers on the bottom right, under the last post.

[Jimmy-T]

I think my response would be along the lines of: “Thank you for your understanding … viewings will start next Wednesday.” I also think the tenant needs to understand that you don’t have a lot of wriggle-room in this.  If there is a noise problem, you are legally obliged to fix it.  If they can’t or won’t cooperate, then they have to go.

BTW, I have two cats and both timber and carpeted floors. The cats aren’t allowed to wear shoes in the apartment.

If you want to be alerted when anyone replies to your posts or responds to this topic, please register and login, then you will be able to subscribe to the topic. The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers. NB: Longer threads may spill over to additional pages - look for the numbers on the bottom right, under the last post.

[Jimmy-T]

strataact wrote:

…as far as I can see he did not say anything about interest income from owners corp funds .

That may be because it’s pretty obvious. Have a look at this ATO form, section 6, where it asks the owners corps accountant or treasurer to include “the amount of interest received or credited during the income year.” That figure is then added to the total assessable income for the year.  It’s taxable income – end of story (and of discussion).

To get back to the original question, how much money would a strata scheme need to have sitting in the bank to make accruing interest at current rates worth paying an accountant to lodge a tax return and then calculate the income apportioned to each owner?

A lot more than most schemes have, would be my answer.

 

 

If you want to be alerted when anyone replies to your posts or responds to this topic, please register and login, then you will be able to subscribe to the topic. The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers. NB: Longer threads may spill over to additional pages - look for the numbers on the bottom right, under the last post.

[Jimmy-T]

I’m happy to go with what strata lawyers and tax expert Tony Cordato said in that article:

“Apartment owners are ‘mutual owners’ of the strata title body and own the common property mutually. As a result, strata levies are not treated as assessable income of the strata title body for income tax purposes.

“However, income from common property is treated, not as mutual income of the strata title body, but as assessable income of the individual owners.”

If you want to be alerted when anyone replies to your posts or responds to this topic, please register and login, then you will be able to subscribe to the topic. The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers. NB: Longer threads may spill over to additional pages - look for the numbers on the bottom right, under the last post.

[Jimmy-T]

strataact wrote:

I see there is a long ATO Ruling on taxation of Strata Schemes. From my amateur reading it seems to suggest that interest income is OK to treat this way, but if the scheme makes income from common property (eg renting the roof space for a mobile phone tower) then that needs to be distributed to owners.

Income is income (interest counts but levies don’t). Have a look here.

By the way, your link to a Google search didn’t work and was removed. You have to post the web address of the page you found, not the address of the Google search that found it.

 

 

If you want to be alerted when anyone replies to your posts or responds to this topic, please register and login, then you will be able to subscribe to the topic. The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers. NB: Longer threads may spill over to additional pages - look for the numbers on the bottom right, under the last post.

[Jimmy-T]

MargieA wrote:

Would a resolution to formalise the treatment of the roof as common property for maintenance purposes be a possible solution?

That seems eminently fair and reasonable.  I’m imagining a special resolution, at least, but it may require all owners agreeing to transfer ownership of their roofs to the OC, which means unanimity would be required.

If you want to be alerted when anyone replies to your posts or responds to this topic, please register and login, then you will be able to subscribe to the topic. The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers. NB: Longer threads may spill over to additional pages - look for the numbers on the bottom right, under the last post.

[Jimmy-T]

I have never heard of this “Deposit Plan” mechanism before?  Can someone enlighten me?  Is it common?

If you want to be alerted when anyone replies to your posts or responds to this topic, please register and login, then you will be able to subscribe to the topic. The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers. NB: Longer threads may spill over to additional pages - look for the numbers on the bottom right, under the last post.

[Author]

Replies