Forum Replies Created
-
Replies
-
Further to my previous response, we should all be wary of “piling on” our grievances when we take a legitimate case to Fair Trading and NCAT. State your case and provide your evidence that’s specific to it, otherwise it looks like you just have a personal grievance with the committee members concerned and you are acting out of spite.
However, if you do have a case that the committee is acting corruptly and you can prove it, take that to NCAT to have the individual members removed.
And if you can’t prove it, best keep your opinions to yourself … at least until the next AGM when you can ask some pointed questions.
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.
First of all, the only appropriate response to a threat of legal action like that is “bring it on” – for most people it’s an empty threat and I wouldn’t give it another thought until that long thin envelope from their lawyer arrives.
Secondly, you are not the person who “published” the alleged defamatory comment – it was the strata manager. So if anyone should be being sued, it’s them.
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.
Your company title documents will tell you who is responsible for what in the building, but I would take a wild guess and say that in this case it’s the company.
As for a lawyer, scroll up the page and click on the ad for our sponsors Sachs Gerace Broome, who have all the knowledge and experience you will need. Tell them we sent you and they’ll look after 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.
If you think of this in terms of levies – of which load repayments are a part – there may potentially a way you can do this. Section 85 (4) of the Act (below) allows owners corporations to reduce levies by 10 percent for early payment. Now, if the OC has the kind of loan that allows for early payment, it makes perfect sense for them to do this for you and any other owners who have the wherewithal to do this.
However, if the loan has a fixed term and interest, there would be no benefit in them doing this and would, in fact, come at a cost to other owners.
You can find out the specific terms of the loan by asking to see the paperwork from the strata manager, secretary or treasurer of your scheme
Section 85, (4) An owners corporation may, by resolution at a general meeting, determine (either generally or in a particular case) that a person may pay 10% less of a contribution levied if the person pays the contribution before the date on which it becomes due and payable.
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.
You are assuming that the committee is doing work so they can dismiss your motion … that will only be proven or otherwise when you have the meeting.
However, you could go to a meeting with an amendment to your motion that any work that has already commenced be carried out to adequate standards, and other works not commenced be done as per your motion.
Second-guessing their motivations and actions will make it look like you are the problem, not them.
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.
I think your best best is to go to NCAT to get a ruling, probably compelling the OC to do the work and including a provision that they fix your decking as well. It maybe worth talking to a strata lawyer at this point or, at the very least, our sponsors Strata Answers who may be able to explain to your committee what their responsibilities really are.
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.
Matt wrote:
I’m in NSW and sometimes I get confused as the role of strata and where there interests and representation lie etc..
It would probably help your thinking if you stopped using the generic term “strata”. In NSW and Victoria the owners as a group are members of the Owners Corporation (Body Corporate in Queensland), by dint of ownership of their lot. This is a club to which you belong whether you want to or not.
At the risk of repeating Sir Humphrey’s explanation above, the Owners Corporation can make decisions about the strata scheme – apartment block or townhouses – at a general meeting. They are required to hold at least one general meeting every year (the AGM) at which they elect the Strata Committee and decide on levies.
The committee acts on behalf of the owners corp but can make many decisions on their own (except those that require special resolutions). The owners at a general meeting can rescind or over-ride decisions of the committee.
The strata manager can also be delegated to make decisions on behalf of the committee and Owners Corp (like issuing breach notices) but they are ultimately acting under the instructions of the committee and the OC.
To put this in parliamentary terms, the owners are parliament, the strata committee is the Cabinet, the chair is the Prime Minister and the strata manager is the Civil Service (not the monarch, although some may disagree).
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.
The exception to what Sir Humphrey has outlined would be the statutorily appointed strata manager (try say that three times with a mouthful of muesli). The statutory manager is appointed by NCAT in situations where a block is dysfunctional to the point that it is not operating properly under the terms of the Act.
That can cover a multitude of sins, from failure to hold meetings, through neglect of common property, to out and out corruption with committee members illegally granting themselves special privileges. In the case of a statutory appointment, the Owners Corporation can cease to exist as a controlling body for the duration, although there are provisions under the law for the Tribunal to specify the role of the manager (levy setting and bill payment, for instance).
However, in most cases, the owners have ceded control of their building to a manager until such times as they can show themselves to be capable of running things properly.
Having a strata manager statutorily appointed to a seriously dysfunctional block can be one of those “be careful what you wish for” moments as they are, on the one hand, expected to do things by the book, and on the other accountable to no one, so they can hire their favoured tradies at inflated rates, if they so desire.
The point is, the owners of the building have a mountain to climb if the realised belatedly that they have made a mistake. The standard appointment of an SM is one year, usually extended for a second at their request.
Otherwise, as Sir Humphrey said, the strata manager is employed by the owners corporation and usually instructed by the committee. However, in a few buildings the power chain gets twisted out of shape and you find the manager is instructing the committee and the owners at a general meeting (where the real power lies) just go along with whatever they are told.
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. Firstly, Fair Trading are notoriously unreliable and it’s pot luck whether you get someone who knows and cares about strata or someone who is as dim and uninformed as the person you spoke to.
Secondly, just because the law says you are entitled to something, doesn’t mean you don’t have to fight for it. If you have lodged your claim within the statutory window, then it is a valid claim, regardless of what the airhead at Fair Trading said.
Finally, Fair Trading can’t issue rulings on anything. They are there to advise and mediate. They will try to get parties to agree but in an ongoing dispute, any independent rulings have to be made by NCAT.
Finally, if it’s any consolation, I’m guessing that you were always going to have to take this builder to NCAT anyway, especially when they are playing fast and loose with the facts.
Start the process by asking for mediation, get all your facts and figures lined up, and go in with the attitude that you are all set to go to NCAT if you don’t get everything you feel you are entitled to. Keep emotion out of it but stay strong.
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.
Apparently you can by-pass the Owners Corp completely and approach the strata insurers directly. Give them a call and see what they say.
The “no fault” interpretation of damage cause by a failure of common property is a weird quirk of strata regulations that has bugged me for years. I still think it’s worth pursuing with the insurers or the OC itself – especially if you can show that negligence by the OC contributed to the leak or the damage from it.
However, the government’s “who’s responsible?” document clearly states that the OC is responsible for the damage caused in repairing a leak but not for the damage caused by the leak in the first place.
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.
As I said before, this has nothing to do with the real estate agents so even if they were covered by the Privacy laws, it would make no difference. I have done the research for the OP by following the questions on the OAIC site. I wouldn’t waste another brain cell on pursuing this issue there.
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.
I have a few issues with Dingo’s post (above):
They have 30 days to respond to your complaint in writing otherwise you may take matters to Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) who will determine if they can investigate your matter on your behalf which is free.
Only owners corporations or businesses with a turnover of more than $3 million a year would come under the Privacy Laws administered by the OAIC. There is a checklist you can do on the OAIC website – it will tell you that you are probably not covered.
As you are a tenant you are not listed on the strata roll …
Landlords are legally obliged to register the names of their tenants with the Owners Corp and can be fined if they don’t
… and all real estate agents are subject to privacy laws.
Not all. Only, those with a turnover of more than $3 million, according to this AOIC fact sheet. In any case, this has nothing to do with the real estate agents. It’s an issue between the resident and the owners corp which is highly unlikely to be covered by privacy laws.
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.
This is also enshrined in the Act. The Owners Corp can offer up to 10% off for early payment.
Section 85 (4): An owners corporation may, by resolution at a general meeting, determine (either generally or in a particular case) that a person may pay 10% less of a contribution levied if the person pays the contribution before the date on which it becomes due and payable.
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.
Your last sentence sums it up, but the first step would be to lodge a motion along the lines of:
“The owners corporation requests the strata manager to compile a list of works, with a view to maintaining the common property, as required by the Strata Schemes Management Act, and enhancing common property to maintain the standards of the building. The strata manager to report back to a general meeting within three months [or whatever].”
Discussions on this could be your platform to get yourself and like-minded owners elected to the committee.
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.