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The new law on pets in NSW specifically states that delaying a decision on a pet is the equivalent of an unreasonable refusal.
Section 137B(5) of the Strata Schemes Management Amendment (Sustainability Infrastructure) Act 2021, which came into force earlier this year says:
An owners corporation is taken to have given permission for the keeping of an animal on a lot if … a decision of the owners corporation is required before the animal may be kept on the lot and the owners corporation failed to make a decision within a reasonable time.
So you could write to the committee, quoting the above section of the Act and tell them that unless you have heard further by seven days, you will assume that they have agreed to your pet being allowed into the building under reasonable conditions, to be agreed at a future date.
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For lawyers, I wouldn’t go past our sponsor David Sachs of Sachs Gerace Lawyers (see ad). David is both reasonable and sensible (i.e. he won’t lead you into unwinnable fights).
I know Colin Grace well and I know of Alex – both good operators – but give David a call and tell him who sent you.
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ISTM is now Strata Community Association (SCA-NSW) – used to be Strata Community Australia but now they cover New Zealand too.
If you have a complaint about a strata manager, they might listen if they are members, but then again they might not. And if they do take on your issue, they will ask you to pay to join SCA (as part of their dubious “owners Branch”), and even then there’s no guarantee they will do anything.
Your best bet, such as it is, is a complaint to Fair Trading … who will also not do very much.
Why is the SCA Owners Branch “dubious”? Look, they are decent enough people and they do a good job of educating owners and committee members, but it’s part of an organisation run by and for strata managers. It’s like an organisation for bank customers being run by the banks.
For independent advice, you’d be better off contacting the Owners Corporation Network (OCN.org.au)
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I can understand the frustration with people misusing visitor partking, but you can’t have parking vigilantes imposing their version of car park justice willy-nilly.
Apart from anything else, it is probably against the law.
Section 615B of the Local Government Act makes it an offence with a maximum fine of $2000 to “immobilize” a vehicle without the owner’s consent.
There are some legal opinions that blocking a car is immobilizing it, just as effectively as if you used a wheel clamp.
Section 625C says it is an offence not to release a vehicle that you have detained when the owner asks for it to be released.
In the case of the blocking owner not coming to the door, that could be seen as a refusal to release the car.
Even if reporting those actions to ppolice seem like a sanction too far, your own by-laws could be used to prevent owners from leaving their cars on common property, where they could be blocking other vehicles.
If you have a by-law about parking on common property without permission, send the Car Park Vigilante an official Notice to Comply the next time – it’s a warning to behave, but it comes with a sting if they ignore it.
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I have similar question for fencing between courtyard which is considered common area.
Between the courtyard and what? I hate to be pedantic but you can’t have something “between” one thing. Is it between a common property courtyard and other common property, perhaps? You may find helpful advice about dividing fences HERE.
You also need to check your block’s by-laws and strata plan with regard to external windows to see who’s responsible as there may be rules specific to your scheme.
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Any motion on the agenda can be moved by anyone entitled to vote at a general meeting but unless an eligible person actually does it can not be put to the vote.
Bush-lawyering alert!!!
Any person who is an owner can place a motion on the agenda. The secretary or chair is a person. Okay, it’s technically possible for a non-owner to be on the committee but I can’t envisage any circumstances under which a non-owner on a committee could put a motion on the agenda.
Section 14.1 of Schedule 1 of the Act says:
A motion put to a meeting… is to be decided according to a majority in number of the votes cast for and against the motion with each person having one vote for each lot in respect of which the person is entitled to vote.
The assumption there is that any motion on the agenda will be considered unlessunder section 19 the chair rules it out of order:
19 Chairperson may rule certain motions out of order
The chairperson at a meeting may rule a motion out of order if–
(a) the chairperson considers that the motion, if carried, would conflict with this Act or the by-laws of the strata scheme or would otherwise be unlawful or unenforceable, or
(b) any requirement of this Act to include the form of the motion in the notice of the meeting has not been complied with.
There’s nothing in the NSW Act about motions requiring a proposer or seconder.
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Where are you and which state’s strata laws are you referring to?
You call yourself “WA”, you refer to the BCCM (which is Queensland – that’s certainly where Hynes Legal are based) and you refer to the strata “council” which is a West Australian term.
Every state has its own strata laws and you can’t assume one state’s pertain in any others.
FYI: Sir Humphrey is based in the ACT. So where are you?
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Airtasker has an admin section so you might find assistance there. Possibly more expensive (if even available) but hugely knowledgeable would be our friends at strataanswers.com.au. No harm in asking.
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I’m going to deal with email harrassment as it seems to me that your by-law allows screens provided they are in keeping with the look of the building.
To deal with the emails, just block that email address with an automatic response that says something like “This email address has been blocked due to abuse. Your email has not been read but has been retained for future reference.”
How you do that will depend on which email software you use. Google “block email addresses on (Gmail or whatever). Get everyone else to do it too and it will soon stop the nonsense.
If that doesn’t work, and the emails truly are abusive or even worse, threatening, you can seek an apprehended personal violence order through a local court. That order would be for the person not to contact you except through their lawyer.
Or you could hold a meeting at which you can pass a motion of censure against the miscreant. That might quieten them down or it might make them worse.
Unfortunately, strata is fertile ground for obsessive nutters who have nothing better to do than harass their neighbours over imagined slights and non-existent breaches.
The easiest way to deal with them is not deal with them at all until they are the ones breaching by-laws, then you come down on them like a ton of bricks.
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The Common Property Memorandum says that electrical wiring serving more than one lot is the responsibility of the owners corporation, and wiring serving one lot exclusively, which doesn’t pass through common property walls is the property of that lot owner.
I can see why the strata manager is befuddled by this. In her shoes, I would advise the committee that the cable should be disconnected from the garage at OC expense because it’s there due to an historic error by the owners corp that has led to this situation.
Also, technically, currently the cabling is serving two lots, therefore it’s common property.
And if any owners want to know why they should share payment for a problem that existed before they even bought in, tell them “welcome to strata”.
But I am not a lawyer, so feel free to ramp up the cost of a minor fix, that should have been sorted out by common sense and compromise, by consulting one.
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Firstly, is the garage a lot or common property? If it’s the latter, you have a lot more say but it ‘s not essential.
Then you have to look at your by-laws concerning change of use.
Then you need to look at the council DA, and whether or not your garages are only to be used for car parking and/or storage, also with an eye on change of use.
Then you need to contact your strata insurer to see if this requires additional cover (which should be paid by the garage owner).
Finally, check for anything that’s been bolted to the floor, walls or ceiling as they will almost certainly be common property and so should have had permission at the very least.
You may also find that by-laws relating to the appearance of a lot or common property could come into play here.
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My question is – do you have to be voted on to a committee or is merely nominating yourself sufficient.
Nominating yourself is enough unless there are fewer seats than there are nominations, in which case you hold a ballot.
She could have nominated before the meeting, so she doesn’t have to be there for the vote, provided she did so in writing.
The only other complication might be if she is a joint owner of her flat, in which case she can’t self-nominate.
The correct procedure is:
1. for the chair to announce the pre-meeting nominations (which must be in writing)
2. Call for nominations from the floor
3. take a vote on how many seats the owners want on the committee (between 1 and 9)
4. Organise a vote if there are more nominations than seats.
By the way, voting must be done by giving everyone a blank sheet of paper on which they should write the names of their preferred nominated candidates, up to a possible maximum of the number of seats available (but they don’t have to fill in the same number of names as there are seats).
If you followed the above procedure to the letter of the Regulations (Part 2, sections 9 and 10) you could argue that she wasn’t there when oral nominations were called for as part of the precribed procedure.
But if you strayed from the correct processes, you could find the whole election process challenged and you might have to hold another general meeting and start again.
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Would you recommend a good strata lawyer if I need to engage one?
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Most free legal services will provide you with advice but unless it’s a criminal matter, will not represent you in a court.
Marrickvile Legal Service will represent strata owners from all over NSW at NCAT and in court if they feel it’s justified. They have even taken cases to the Supreme Court. In this instance, it may just take a letter from them, but that’s not the point. They do represent people at Tribunals and in court, which is why I recommended them.
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Marrickville Legal Centre provides free specialist strata legal advice and representation for NSW residents who can’t afford to pay for their own. Contact them via this link to their website (and let us know how you get on).
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