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The courtyard is lot property but I thought the pebblecrete surface might be common property ?
If the terrace is lot property, you probably only need approval from your strata committee and you would have to show your plans to get their OK. They may be concerned about changing the external appearance of the scheme as well as drainage etc.
If the surface is common property, then you will need special resolution by-laws if you are planning to dig it up but probably not if you are only planning to cover it.
Check your registered plan to see if the terrace is marked as common property.
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The detail on levies on your post is unclear.
Despite the wording in the initial post, I think the question was about strata management fees
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after being on flat chat for only 20 mins and reading things………………… why would anybody own a flat, it sounds horrible, either Narc owners, or owners who do as they wish…. stick to a house me thinksOn behalf of the strata residents of Australia, we appreciate your decision not to be our neighbour.
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By laws mean nothing compared to the DDA 1992.. Question: How do you know they are not disabled?We can stop this whole discussion now. The NSW Court of Appeals has ruled that blanket “no-pets” by-laws are invalid and have no effect. Debates over who’s disabled and who isn’t are irrelevant. Pets can no longer be banned in NSW.
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Is the courtyard common property or lot property?
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Could it be that the other side doesn’t regard this work as being essential? I would present an invoice to the Owners Corp (not the other owner) for work done and a quote for work to be done, with other quotes for comparison’s sake.
You could then take the matter to mediation at Fair Trading if they refuse to pay, with a view to pursuing orders under Section 232.
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This post is related to this one on a different issue in the same block. Go there for the response to both posts.
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This is a committee of 5 chosen by developer in 2014 who don’t provide notices of meetings and were originally elected by 210 empty storage cage votes. An informal residents committee arranged Fire Services Victoria to report on the site but they are not eligible to see the report.
Are the OC allowed to block fire routes and what recourse do residents have, that doesnt cost them … although this is unconstitutional we can’t afford to dismiss them. So what else can we do to get our evacuation safety concerns taken seriously?
This is also related to this question about the validity of the strata committee and the difference between the plans submitted to council and those registere with the authorities.
Victorian strata law is literally 10 years behins NSW sytrata law but there are still many similarities. One of them, I believe, is that owners are allowed to see all corespondence with the owners corproation, and all documentation held by it.
However, one of your biggest problem is that you want to take on a developer/manager embedded in an unfair and possibly illegals system and you want to do it at no cost.
That isn’t going to happen. There are remedies that would allow you to sort this whole thing out and, at the end of the day, might result in your lega costs being paid by the other side, but there are no guarantees.
In your position, I would be looking at having the committee sacked by VCAT and replaced with a strata manager, under section 165.1 (h) and (i) (below) but you are not going to be able to do that without the assistance of very competent strata lawyers.
Your first step may be to organise your neighbours to examine what your options are and decide what to do. And your first battle may be to take the Owners Corporation to VCAT to force them to let you see all correspondence.
165 What orders can VCAT make?
(1) In determining an owners corporation dispute, VCAT may make any order it considers fair including one or more of the following—
(h) an order appointing (with the person’s consent) or revoking the appointment of—
(i) the chairperson of the owners corporation;
(ii) the secretary of the owners corporation;
(iii) a member of a committee or sub-committee of the owners corporation;(i) an order—
(i) appointing a person (with the person’s consent) as manager of the owners corporation, on specified terms and conditions;
(ii) revoking the appointment of a manager of an owners corporation;
(iii) imposing conditions or restrictions on the management by a manager of the owners corporation;(j) an order in relation to damaged or destroyed buildings or improvements;
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So what’s the time limit? The general meeting was 9am Friday 20//11 . Let’s say, they give me the right to nominate myself. What if the 2 members all veto … is it possible for them to keep me out of the committee?
The time limit on Section 25 (denied a vote) is 28 days. Section 24, (improperly conducted election) doesn’t have a time limit specified but I wouldn’t go beyond 28 days.
There are two options here. The first, being co-opted on to the committee, would allow a “veto” since the existing committee member are the only ones who vote on your admission to the committee, after it has been elected at a General Meeting.
If you present this as a compromise, to avoid another NCAT confrontation which you will surely win, maybe they will see sense.
If they refuse, even after you explain why the strata manager is wrong, then you have to challenge the election at Fair Trading and NCATso that it has to be conducted again and then you can nominate.
Your problem then is to convince a majority of owners, not so much that you have been denied your legal rights, but that the strata scheme is facing unnecessary expenses because of poor decisions based on false premises. You want to join the committee to put things on an even keel.
The issue with the entry gate motor is one example. That could and should have been dealt with without anyone having to go to Fair Trading. The highly dubious decision to deny you the right to stand for election has just compounded the problem where bad and legally questionable decisions pile on top of each other.
One argument might be that the owners corporation is being encouraged to avoid its responsibility to maintain and repair common property by a strata manager who cites aspects of strata law that don’t exist.
It’s a truism of strata that trying to avoid paying legitimate expenses for repairs always ends up costing more when you have to go through the hassles of an NCAT challenge and then have to do the repairs anyway.
The committee members are clearly getting dubious advice that they follow because they think it will save the scheme money. You will need to convince the other owners that these are false economies and they could be doing better.
Yoiur next challenge will be to convince the strata manager to provide you with the email addresses of all the non-resident owners. Give the SM’s previous actions, I’d bet they will cite privacy issues for not doing so. This, again, would be pure BS.
Owners are entitled to see all records of the strata scheme and that includes email addresses where they have been provided.
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I don’t remember they had such a vote.
To be fair, it’s not unusual in a small scheme for the letter of the law not to be followed. It’s often just a case of sayign”ok, who wants to be on the committee?” The problem here is that they have denied you the right to nominate yourself and there is absolutely nothing that I can find in strata law that allowes them to do that.
I think a quick call to your strata manager offering him the option to fix the situation, otherwise you will immediately (and there is a time limit on these things) make an application to Fair Trading to have the whole election re-run art another general meeting and, by the way, he should wear any costs becasue it’s his error and no one else’s.
Also, as a genreal rule, make sure all the blame gets sheeted back to the strata manager for having advised the committee badly. He is dispensible – but you have to live with your neighbours.
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So I asked the strata manager to give me the reference to sections in the strata Act or Regulations. Here is his reply: “As stated, there Is case against the Owners Corporation and specifically the strata committee, there is a conflict of interest – this was agreed by all parties. Until the case is over, you can request a EGM and join the committee if voted in favour.” Currently there are only 2 members in the committee.
If there is a conflict of interest it cuts both ways. It sounds like the strata manager is making it up as he goes. If you were illegally prevented from standing for election, than you can seek orders invalidating the election under Section 24 of the Act.
I am guessing the correct procedures for the election were probably not followed in any case. For instance, after the nominations, did they first have a vote to decide on how many members there should be in the committee? Have a look at section 9 of the Regulations, to see if they complied.
If they decided on more than two, then the existing members can vote to co-opt you on to the committee (to save having the whole election invalidated).
Also, if there are more than 100 lots in the building the committee must have at least three members.
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Another thing is about the balcony sliding door. My impression is it’s part of the wall and a responsibility to the strata. But he said the OC just had a meeting and passed a by-law. Now it’s the responsibility of individual owners. Is this possible?
I think passing responsibility for common property to owners can be done via Section 107 of the Act or via a by-law passed with no more than 25 per cent of owners dissenting at a properly constituted meeting.
However, if you had an issue with them over a repair that was notified or was apparent before the by-law was passed, I believe they would stiull be responsible for the repair (under common law, rather than strata law).
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Sounds like total BS to me. Have you withheld your levies payment becasue of the dispute? Non-payment of levies is one of the few things that can disqualify owners from nominating anyone, including themselves, for the committee.
Ask the strata manager to give you the reference to sections in the strata Act or Regulations that say you can’t nominate or be nominated while you are in dispute.
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NCAT is set up for lay people to resolve grievances, without having to pay unaffordable legal fees.
It WAS set up that way, that’s true, and you have to apply for permission to be legally represented, but it is becoming more common as (I’m told) Members find that they are having to instruct unrepresented plaintiffs and defendants on basic strata law, just so they can hear cases on their merits.
Here’s an NCAT fact sheet on representation, either by supporting parties or by lawyers.
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