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Austman is right – if you have handed over the keys. This Tenants Victoria factsheet says as much, right at the top.
The only difference I can see would be if you’d said you needed the keys back (for instance to pick up those last few valuables) or if the final inspection hadn’t occurred when the landlady had taken over the property.
In that case, it’s possible the lease doesn’t end until you finally hand over the keys or you reach the termination date on your lease
It’s irritating to think she is using facilities on your dime, and maybe you could get a partial refund on your rent by applying to Consumer Affairs. But I have my doubts. Maybe the best thing you can do is just move on and enjoy your new home.
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I feel I need to point out (having just realised it) that a big chunk of Sujenna’s initial reply is identical to material in a fact sheet offered by JFMLawyers.
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The limit is 14 days and in a small block like yours all owners should be provided with a copy. The maximum penalty for failure to do so is $550 (but I’m not sure who would pay that).
This is what Schedule 1 of the Act says in relation to General Meeting minutes:
22 Minutes(1) Records to be kept The owners corporation must keep full and accurate minutes of its meetings that include minutes of all motions passed at its meetings.
(2) Distribution of minutes and records of motions Within 14 days after a meeting, the owners corporation must provide copies of the minutes of the meeting in the following manner—
(a) by giving each member of the strata committee a copy,
(b) by giving each owner a copy, if the strata scheme is not a large strata scheme,
(c) by giving an owner a copy, if the strata scheme is a large strata scheme and the owner requests a copy within the period of 14 days.
Maximum penalty—5 penalty units.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.
A couple of things here. This owner has altered common property and the strata manager doesn’t have the authority to allow that or otherwise. So that’s one route for a solution.
Also, residents are not allowed to do anything that causes a nuisance to other owners – and by nuisance, Section 153 means things that affect their health or wellbeing.
With those two pieces of information in your back pocket, you can talk to the perfumed princess and tell her she needs to change her habits.
Then, if she ignores you, you can call the strata manager and ask him when he held the general meeting that passed the by-law that allowed your neighbour to install a fan on common property that poured toxic fumes into your flat.
If the ventillation is inadequate, it should be fixed in such a way that takes smells out of your bathrroom, not pumps them in.
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Can I ask you to give me the Section number from the Act? Is it Section 258?
it is indeed Section 258 and, as you will see from the link, there is a potential fine of $550 for failure to do so.
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Because of the allotments our strata committee needs my vote to pass a special levy. If I can’t make it to a special meeting can they vote levies through without my consent?
First of all, the committee can’t pass levies, special or otherwise. This can only be done by a general meeting.
If you are talking about an extraordinary general meeting when you refer to a “special meeting” then if you want to support the special levy, send a proxy vote. If you don’t want to approve the special levy, send a proxy vote to that effect. It is important to vote as the results are determined as a percentage of votes cast.
For instance, say you have 11 owners and five vote yes and six vote no, then the “nays” win. But if five vote yes and four vote no and two don’t turn up or send proxies, then the “yeas” win.
Also, I notice you have posted elsewhere saying you have sold the unit and the purchasers have agreed to pay the special levy. I can’t see why you wouldn’t arrange a proxy vote (which has to be made on the official form – or one provided by the strata manager).
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It is not uncommon to find by-laws in apartment blocks that forbid children from playing in common areas or car parks. In some they’ll say they can’t play in common areas without adult supervision.
South Australia has its own approach to by-laws, which are called Articles there. You will find the model articles HERE in a handy publication. The articles can be changed by special resolution but there are no fines attached to breaches of the Articles unless there is another Article saying that fines can be applied. That said, the strata corporation gets to set the levels of the fines themselves.
However, any articles that reduce the value of a unit or unfairly discriminate against a unit owner may be struck out by order of the Magistrates Court or the District Court.
So there could be an Article to forbid children from playing in common areas but their parent or guardian could argue that it was discriminatory.
On the other hand, there are Articles that basically say residents or their guests can’t disturb the peace and quiet of other residents.
Choose your poison.
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The pipes in the common property floor are the responsibility of the owners corp, What goes into the pipes – in this case, probably, waste water from the shower, bath, sink and maybe washing machine – is the lot owner’s responsibility.
So if there’s a design flaw in the pipes – a kink or narrowing of some kind – that’s down to them.
But if your houshold has created a mini fatberg of, say, hair, cat litter, oil and gunk, then that’s down to you.
And if it’s backwash from another apartment, then the owners corp should be dealing with that lot’s occupant, not you.
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It’s more a question of people in a building knowing who their neighbours are than any intrusion into anyone’s privacy. In NSW, this is compulsory, with fines potentially attached for failure to do so. In SA, the standard “articles” (by-laws) say:
12 A unit holder must immediately notify the strata corporation of—
(a) any change in the ownership of the unit, or any change in the address of an owner;
(b) any change in the occupancy of the unit.I don’t think that simply means you have to tell them you have a new tenant. You should let them know the tenant’s name and contact details in case they need to be contacted for maintenance, in an emergency or if there is any problem that affects them or is caused by them.
There is a very detailed handbook on SA strata law available for download HERE.
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The easiest way to have your concerns made official is to seek mediation at Fair Trading and apply for orders under Section 232(2). This is part of the Act that setes out to resolve disputes over duties that the strata scheme has failed to undertake.
Painting is part of the strata scheme’s maintenance duties. The law also required the scheme to have a 10-year maintenance plane updated every five years.
On the question of climbable balcony balustrades. A simple and relatively cheap and unobtrusive way of dealing with that is to affix perspex sheets to the inside of the ironwork, thereby removing footholds. You could even get a local builder to quote for the whole building using your apartment as a guide.
This three-pronged approach would start with mediation and that would, if nothing else, create an official record of your concerns. If you do go to medaition, and the strata committee appears ro agree, make sure you get a commitment in writing ast to starta and completion dates for the work.
Another otion might be to contact your strata insurers and ask them if they are concerned about the potential climb and fall risk.
None of these approaches are guaranteed to work, and they will make you very unpopular with your recalcitrant neighbours, so perhaps the best thing to do first is to politely tell the secretary or chair that this is your plan of action if they continue to ignore your concerns and suppress all records of you having made them known .
But just be sure to follow through if they ignore you again. I would say at a guess that they don’t want to spend money and they don’t want any record of problems to appear in the minutes as that might affect the value of their apartments.
But nothing damages the value of property more than neglect and willful ignorance. One you take them to Fair Trading, that is a record that must be available to prospective purchasers, and that’s something they really don’t want – for people to see how the property has been neglected and allowed to run down.
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These are what we call Schedule B fees in NSW annd they are dependent on what it says in your strata scheme’s contract with the manager. As afar as I knw, there is no limit on what managers can charge, provided such charges and amounts are agreed in the management contract.
As an owner, you are entitled to view the management contract, so take a look.
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No, is the simple answer but then the processes you have described could be innocent.
For instance, if the strata committee was examinining the potential for selling the common property to the adjacent owner and planned to pass the costs to the lot owner, then this would be borderline OK.
However, if they are doing it purely for the benefit of one owner, with no compensation or advantage to the strata scheme, then that is borderline fraud.
I would think a polite “please explain” letter to the committee followed by an application to NCAT for interim orders stopping the work if you failed to get a satisfactory answer, could be a tactic.
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I feel like I’ve been left out of the whole process and I want to make sure my demands don’t just go into the black hole of this OC manager’s inbox. I don’t feel like there have been adequate transparency around the process and what the next steps are and I get bad vibes that they are going to try to dodge this if they can.
That’s not an unusual feeling in strata. The strata manager or building manager could very well be working away behind the scenes to resolve the issue but they should be keeping you informed of what they plan to do and how they plan to do it.
Where can I turn to here? Shouldn’t they be involving me in all the reports by the builders and plumbers so I stay informed?
No, not really. As I said above they should be telling you generally what they plan to do but giving you every detailed step is just going to slow things down.
Have they breached their duty of care in this instance?
“Duty of care” is a phrase that gets bandied around a lot but doesn’t mean anything unless it spelled out in a contract or in the law. Until recently, in NSW, builders had no “duty of care” to the owners of apartments.
How do I make sure what I’m asking for doesn’t fall on deaf ears?
Ask for a meeting with the strata manager or building manager and take a witness. Make sure you get all their commitments in writing. If nothing is done, start mediation proceedings at Fair Trading.
There is a strange quirk in strata law that I’ve never been able to get my head around which is that the OC has to repair any damage caused in effecting repairs to common property but they are not liable for damage cause by the failure of common property … unless that is due to neglect or something they did.
There is also another quirk that you can possibly go straight to the strata insurer and make a claim without involving either committee or strata manager and the insurer will often just pay up.
Perhaps you would be a candidate for referring to Marrickville Legal Centre’s free strata advice service. You’ll find them HERE. If they help you out, you might help them out too, with a wee tax-free donation.
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