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You could ask your strata manager or strata committee to send them a letter simply reminding them that
a) there is a standard of behaviour on common property set in the by-laws of the building (with the relevant by-law quoted), and
b) all residents can be fined for breaching by-laws, and
c) that a breach of by-laws may constitute a breach of their rental agreement (in which they have agreed to abide by the by-laws of the building) which could give their landlord grounds to cancel their lease and evict.
That’s all they need to say, without making specific allegations. That said, this is just as likely to inflame the situation as resolve it.
Maybe you should just keep your mobile phone handy and pull it out, saying “I am recording you” very loudly. Privacy laws only prevent you from recording people secretly.
And, if you really want to record them, there are apps available that put your phone on to record instantly at the touch of a button.
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Sir Humphrey said:
If an individual wants to put a motion, they should find somebody to second the motion. If only one person is interested in having a motion put, the chair can dismiss it if nobody will second the motion.
Not sure if this is the case in NSW.
However, it is true that the chair can dismiss a motion (i.e. not even put it to a vote) if they think it is “incompetent”. However, I believe the motion still has to be on the agenda so everyone can see how and why it has been dismissed.
This is what schedule 1 of the NSW Act says:
4 INCLUSION OF MATTERS ON AGENDA
(1) Any owner, or any person entitled to vote at a general meeting of an owners corporation, may require a motion to be included in the agenda of the next general meeting of the owners corporation.
(2) The requirement is to be made by written notice given to the secretary of the owners corporation that:
(a) sets out the required motion, and
(b) states the name of the person making the requirement, and
(c) includes an explanation of the motion of not more than 300 words in length.
(3) The secretary must give effect to the requirement.
(4) However, if the requirement is made after notice has been given of the meeting, the secretary must include the motion in the agenda for the next subsequent meeting.
(5) An owner or a person may make a requirement even if the owner or person cannot vote because the owner is an unfinancial owner.
And there’s this …
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.
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This is a total scam – like the one in 2017 where certain strata managers charged their schemes thousands of dollars for updating their software to comply with the new laws (the majority of other strata managers didn’t).
How hard is it to walk past a brick building and see that there isn’t an issue with flammable cladding. How easy is it to con all your buildings into believing that this charge is standard practice?
No wonder strata managers get a bad name.
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Louie said:
Apparently his Real Estate has not notified our Managing Agents that there is a tenant in the premises. Our Managing Agents said by law, he cannot issue notices for the tenant to the Real Estate, as they do not officially know there is a tenant.
Then your managing agent should issue the owner with a breach notice under Section 258 (below): Maximum fine $550. What are you paying them for if they can’t even do the basics?
258 Tenancy notice to be given to owners corporation of leases or subleases
(1) If a lot is leased, the lessor must give notice of the lease, in accordance with this
section, to the owners corporation not later than 14 days after the commencement of
the lease.
Maximum penalty: 5 penalty units.
(2) If a lot is subleased, the sub-lessor must give notice of the sublease, in accordance
with this section, to the owners corporation not later than 14 days after the
commencement of the sublease.
Maximum penalty: 5 penalty units.
(3) If a lease or sublease of a lot is assigned, the assignor must give notice of the
assignment, in accordance with this section, to the owners corporation not later than
14 days after the execution of the assignment.
Maximum penalty: 5 penalty units.
(4) The notice must be in writing and specify:
(a) the name of the tenant and an address for service of the tenant, and
(b) the date of commencement or assignment of the lease or sublease, as the case
requires, and
(c) the name of any agent acting for the owner in respect of the lease or sublease.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 simplest solution it to put a motion on the agenda – and do it right now – that proposes that each item in the new by-laws be discussed and voted on individually.
You could add in an explanatory note that while most issues will go through without debate, there is a small number of contentious issues about which there are strong feelings. Failure to discuss and vote on these individually could result in a successful challenge at NCAT over what amounts to a denial of vote. That would lead to the rejection of all the by-laws, resulting in the need for another EGM.
“All or nothing” is no way to revise the by-laws of a building.
But I repeat, send your motion in now with the request that it be attached to the agenda of the by-laws EGM. Motions must be included on the agenda for the next general meeting if they are submitted before the agenda is issued
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First, I recommend setting out what you actually want. If it’s a higher fence and proper drainage, then talk to the neighbour and give them a chance to respond.
If they say no or even look like they are going to delay acceding to your reasonable requests, tell them you will be taking it further.
Then you’ll need to get straight on to it. I think my first call would be to council. The whole drainage issue needs to be sorted out and that would be the starting point.
Then I would be check the original strata plan to see what is actually lot property and what’s common property – and taking discussions with the committee from there.
Finally, I would be looking at strata law and your by-laws to see if there’s anything there about changing lot property so that it’s no longer in keeping with the rest of the building.
And perhaps explaining that you have an action plan will make them a bit more amenable when you restate your request.
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To answer your questions:
I believe Tenants and or Owners can attend Strata Committee meetings, but I have been advised “unless invited” by Strata Committee can not join in and contribute, is this correct?
Owners can attend strata committee meetings but they can’t address the meeting unless the committee votes to allow them to do so. Tenants have no stated right to attend meetings. Section 13 of Schedule 2 says this:
13 Non-member owner may attend
An owner or, if the owner of a lot is a corporation, any company nominee of that corporation is entitled to attend a meeting but is not entitled to address the meeting unless authorised to do so by resolution of the strata committee.
Question 2:
Our by-laws do not specify a tenant can not stand for election at an AGM so I assume they could if they wanted to but again I am advised if elected they are not able to participate in any financial matters, is this correct?
You have confused and conflated a few different aspects of the law here. By-laws don’t decide who can or can’t stand for election – that’s part of strata law. In fact, a tenant or just about any non-owner can stand for election if nominated by an owner, and if so elected would be entitled to participate fully in the workings of the committee.
However, in a building where more than 50 per cent of residents are registered tenants, the chair must invite tenants to nominate candidates for election as tenant representatives and organise elections if required. The duly elected tenants rep can participate in the discussions but has no vote and can be excluded from discussions of sensitive issues. This is different from a tenant elected as a fully fledged member of the committee.
If a tenant attends an AGM can they participate in discussions or only participate if they are invited.
Who’s going to stop them?
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You just nominate someone to act as your agent (with their permission, of course). I think it has to be registered on the Strata Roll for them to receive all mail etc.
Have a chat with our new sponsors Strata Answers. This may be the kind of thing they do (for a fee)
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No, there isn’t, but you’re right, there should be. That said, I can imagine the endless arguments about where it should be positioned, what it should say and how big (and in what font) the letters should be.
Bearing in mind that some strata schemes don’t even want to display the names and contact details of their committee members, this may be a can of worms that remains unopened.
Personally, I think every strata scheme of more than 50 units should have a mandatory static webpage that lists the committee members and the strata and/or building managers’ contact details. But then I’m just a 21st Century guy.
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When you say Agent, do you mean strata manager?
You need to go to Fair Trading to apply for orders to restore common property (the doors) to their former status.
You might also need to get interim orders tell the owner not to change the other doors.
And you could write to council saying this owner has changed the layout of the apartment (which requires a DA).
If the owner refuses to change the doors himself, send workmen in to do it and then send him the bill.
And when you have sorted all that out, sack the “Agent” who is taking your money and not even doing the basics.
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This is tricky, given the numbers. But these are repairs, even if that means a new roof. The OC is legally obliged to “maintain and repair” and if the roof is beyond repair, that doesn’t mean they do nothing. It’s a shame that you have a strata manager prepared to split hairs over this, and come up with the wrong answer.
Section 106 of the Act says:
(1) An owners corporation for a strata scheme must properly maintain and keep in a state of good and serviceable repair the common property …
and …
(3) This section does not apply to a particular item of property if the owners corporation determines by special resolution that: (a) it is inappropriate to maintain, renew, replace or repair the property, and (b) its decision will not affect the safety of any building, structure or common property in the strata scheme or detract from the appearance of any property in the strata scheme.
Look at section 3. You have to pass a special resolution to NOT fix common property, and even then only if it doesn’t affect the safety or appearance of the structure.
If your strata manager remains unconvinced, even by a simple majority vote of your owners, the simplest way to resolve this may be to seek orders at NCAT under section 232, requiring the Owners Corporation to fulfil its duties under the Act.
Now, I know this could seem like taking yourself to NCAT, but at the obligatory prior mediation, Fair Trading might just counsel the strata managers that they are misinterpreting the law, so you won’t need to proceed any further.
Otherwise you are just beating your head off a brick wall of ignorance, incompetence and indifference.
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I would be having a quiet word with the manager, pointing out that what he is doing is a clear conflict of interest and if he doesn’t start looking after the whole building – rather than just the bits from which he earns commissions – you will be applying to NCAT for the compulsory appointment of a strata manager, whose first job will be to farewll the existing strata manager and whose second act may well be to see if the building manager/rental agent is fulfilling his duties as per the contract.
Or you could get a strata lawyer to write a letter to that effect. Or you could click on the link to our new sponsors Strata Answers and see if they can help.
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Click on to the Tenants Union website. It has fact sheets covering just about every situation in renting. There is also a link to a “tenants advocate”.
Armed with the correct information, you might then want to approach Fair Trading for mediation.
But, to answer a couple of your questions, no, a landlord can’t break the terms of a fixed-term rental lease.
And, yes, if you do breach the terms of your lease, you can be evicted.
And yes, if you just up and leave, you can be required to pay the rent on the empty property until such times as a suitable alternative tenant is found, or pay for the costs of advertising for your replacement (or both). Failure to do any of that will quite possibly see you blacklisted.
Now, go to tenants.org.au.
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