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Ten per cent p.a. interest on $116,000 is $11,600. Penalty interest of 10 per cent is a statutory amount eatablished in strata law.
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You need to look at Section 85 and Section 86 of the strata Act. They allow for penalty interest of 10 per cent per annum on unpaid levies, plus the reasonable costs of recovery.
That means if you simply don’t pay the penalty interest, they can hire debt collectors to retrieve the unpaid amounts at your, probably considerable, expense. And the unpaid amounts will start accruing interest too.
As for the $4000, that may be the 10 percent interest broken down into three quarterly payments, but you would have to ask your strata manager how they reached this figure.
The owners corporation has considerable leeway in how they charge penalty interest, and how it is paid, so your best bet is is to talk to the committee and the strata manager as soon as possible.
If you simply don’t pay, you will not only accrue more interest, you will also lose your voting rights as an owner.
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You need to look at Section 85 and Section 86 of the strata Act. They allow for penalty interest of 10 per cent per annum on unpaid levies, plus the reasonable costs of recovery.
That means if you simply don’t pay the penalty interest, they can hire debt collectors to retrieve the unpaid amounts at your, probably considerable, expense. And the unpaid amounts will start accruing interest too.
As for the $4000, that may be the 10 percent interest broken down into three quarterly payments, but you would have to ask your strata manager how they reached this figure.
The owners corproation has considerable leeway in how they charge penalty interest, and how it is paid, so your best bet is is to talk to the committee and the strata manager as soon as possible.
If you simply don’t pay, you will not only accrue more interest, you will also lose your voting rights as an owner.
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Oh, dear: “while it was otherwise empty”?
Well, it wasn’t empty when you parked in it – meaning it wasn’t available for bona fide visitors.
But can you be evicted for this?
You can be evicted for breaching by-laws – because that’s a breach of your tenancy agreement.
But there’s a process. You have to have received warnings and you must be given notice so you get the chance to appeal to Fair Trading.
So challenge it and, in the meantime, put up a notice asking to rent a spare space from anothe resident.
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I think the first thing you need to do is download the Fair Trading document Strata Living and give that a good read. You might also want to have a look around the Fair Trading website HERE.
Just to be clear, the strata manager does what the committee wants, not the other way around (unless it would be illegal). So, when you’re ready, ask the SM to call an EGM.
And yes, you should have the owners contact details, since you are effectively the secretary of the owners corporation (body corporate).
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Who or what is ACAT?
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You might be getting confused with the new short-term holiday letting laws (which have not yet come into force).
But your local council will have it’s own fire safety regulations for apartments which may or may not require hard-wired smoke alarmas, depending on the age and construction materials used in specific blocks.
All councils will require fire-rated front doors, at the very least.
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There is a process around committee elections and I suspect it hasn’t been followed.
Firstly you call for nominations
Then you decide how many you want on the committee.
Then if the number of nominees exceeds the number of vacancies. You have an election.
To correct this, you need to call an Extraordinary General Meeting,remove the strata committee and have another election at which you do things properly (and get yourself re-elected).
I think a committee of five is way too many for a nine-lot scheme (where the owners only take an interest after the matter). All it takes is for three people not to turn up for a meeting and it would be inquorate. Three e=would be a much better number.
As far as the strata manager is concerned, they will have a contract that spells out how long they are employed for and the terms under which they can be terminated. You might find it’s very hard to replace your strata manager before their term is up, unless they have breached the terms of the contract.
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Kaindub said:
Most motions require a simple majority.
Yes but changes to common property require a special resolution and in SA that means a vote against by no more than 25 percent of everyone entitled to vote (unlike NSW where it’s 25 percent of actual votes at the meeting).
Either way, chummy had enough votes in his pocket to kill the plan, if he had decided to vote.
Not sure if what’s described is bullying, per se. Sounds like inertia, more than anything.
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You could certainly reduce their levies by pumping profits from your excess solar power back into the general admin fund. However, actually handing back cash is a strata law and taxation minefield that you might want to avoid.
In fact, when the solar panels start generating profits as well as power, even if you just reduce the levies, you might have to issue a tax statement for all your owners then, as they are effectively making an income from a shared facility.
But that’s no reason not to do it. Paying more tax just means you are making more money.
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The Tenants Union Factsheet “Locks and Security” says this:
Under the terms of the standard residential tenancy agreement, you agree:
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not to alter, remove or add any lock or other security device without reasonable excuse (see below) or unless the landlord agrees
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to give the landlord a copy of the key (or other opening device or information) for any changed lock or security device within 7 days of the change.
I think it would be reasonable to send the tenant a letter telling them that by changing the lock without your permission, they have breached their tenancy agreement and have compromised your legal responsibility to maintain fire safety compliant doors.
In view of both of these breaches, and unless they are resolved immediately, they are liable for both eviction and the loss of their bond to pay for any damage done to the door in rectifying these breaches.
Will they please arrange a time for a compliant lock to be fitted by your tradespeople within seven days or you will commence proceedings to rectify the situation.
How about that?
or
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It sounds like you are asking for common property to be changed (which would require a special resolution) or even if the gate is your own lot property, you need the approval of the strata corporation.
However, if you feel they have been unreasonable in not even considering this you can apply for mediation through a private mediation service (there is no equivalent of Fair Trading in South Australia) or even take the strata scheme to the Magistrates Court for a ruling.
Here’s what the SA government’s publication Strata Titles – A Legal Guide says about unresolved disputes (and you can download it on that link):
If no resolution can be worked out, then an application may be made to the Magistrates Court as a minor civil action to decide the matter. If the matter is particularly complex or significant , a unit owner can seek the permission of the District Court to commence proceedings there [s41A(3)].
Alternatively, the District Court can agree to transfer proceedings begun in the Magistrates Court to the District Court .
An application can be made to the court by :
• a strata corporation
• the owner or occupier of a unit (including a tenant)
• a person who has contracted to purchase a unit
• any other person bound by the articles of a strata corporation except for persons invited to or visiting the site.
The court can deal with disputes where (1):
• it is claimed a breach of the Act or the articles of the corporation has occurred
• an occupier of a unit claims to have been prejudiced by the wrongful act or default of the strata corporation, or a delegate (including a strata manager), or the management committee, or some other member of the strata corporation
• a member of a strata corporation claims that a decision of the strata corporation, or a delegate (including a strata manager), or the management committee is unreasonable, oppressive or unjust
• any aspect of the occupation or use of a strata unit is in dispute between a strata corporation and a member of the corporation, or between two or more members of a strata corporation.Obviously, it would be better to resolve these issues amicably, possibly via mediation. But, if that fails, you do have recourse to legal action if need be.
Oh, and there is no limit to the number of proxies that can be held by one person, provided they are given in the prescribed format (see the SA strata guide) and are available at the meeting for inspection. If they aren’t, your AGM may have been inquorate and another one should be arranged, as per the law.
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OK, before I go any further, you might want to consider talking to an experienced strata lawyer (and David Sachs of our sponsors Sachs Gerace Lawyers is very reasonable, in every sense).
I am wondering that since the decision to take out the fire alarms and not replace them was made under the old strata laws, where strata committee members could be personally liable for decisions they made that they knew were wrong, you might be able to take action against them for the difference between the original cost and the additional cost now.
All that aside, you can take your owners corporation to NCAT under a section 232(2) for failure to fulfill their duties and responsibilities, and get orders compelling them to do this. You could also get something done about the rising damp under the same section of the Act.
You’re not going to make yourself popular but it sounds like that ship has already sailed.
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On the other hand, if they OWNED the car spots, the non-residents could not be excluded after this court ruling.
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