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@scotlandx said:
…. so as long as you have a quorum at the meeting that’s fine …AT AGMs you only have to wait half an hour from the scheduled start of the meeting before the chair can declare those present as forming a quorum.
Is it different for EGMs? Could be – just asking?
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A strata meeting is not a public meeting that anyone and everyone can attend. It therefore must be surely considered a private discussion or meeting.
In real terms, people who don’t want to be recorded would be effectively denied the ability to speak openly. It has to be unanimous.
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You have 28 days to challenge the votes at the meeting provided they made a difference to the outcome. Call Fair Trading ASAP
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My answers are going to be pragmatic, rather than legalistic or bureaucratic. I’d rather get the tiles down then find out if the strata manager had the right to order me to do so (and try to extract the extra cost from them after the tenants had moved in).
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It’s a bit different. Any OWNER who is eligible to be a member of the committee can represent an elected member of the committee provided the committee agrees. This owner can be an existing member of the committee, or not.
Basically the way this works is that once a quorum has been established (and not before) the committee would be asked to approve the “Acting Member”. Sensibly, you would run this past the secretary and chair before the meeting, to avoid confusion.
Interestingly, if the Acting Member doesn’t agree with your opinion, they can cast one vote for themselves and a different one for you.
34 Acting members of strata committee(1) A member of a strata committee may, with the consent of the strata committee, appoint an owner or company nominee of a corporation that is an owner who is eligible to be a member to act in his or her place as a member at any meeting of the strata committee.
(2) The owner or company nominee appointed is, while so acting as a member, taken to be a member.
(3) An owner or company nominee of a corporation may be appointed whether or not he or she is already a member of the strata committee.
(4) If a person so appointed is a member of the strata committee, the person may, at any meeting of the strata committee, separately vote in the person’s capacity as such a member and on behalf of the member in whose place the person has been appointed to act.
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There are two potentially contradictory notions here. One is the by-law that doesn’t require you to install sound insulation, the other is a general prohibition on creating noise that disturbs your neighbours.
Clearly kitchens and bathrooms were exempted in the original by-laws because they are ‘wet’ areas that would have some sort of waterproofing under them and were unlikely to have carpet on top.
These by-laws were written long before people started putting hard floors down on a concrete slab and were designed to prevent people having to lay down carpet where it really doesn’t belong.
So are you quoting the actual by-law for your building or standard by-law 14 for pre-1996 buildings (although they may be the same)?
But what strikes me is, if this is costing you money, how much would it cost just to put underlay down? You could be waiting months if you pursue this through NCAT and that’s what you will have to do if you try to force the strata committee’s hand.
Forget the principle and look at the cost. And if your by-laws are the same as the standard by-laws, have a think about By-law 1:
1 NoiseAn owner or occupier of a lot must not create any noise on the parcel likely to interfere with the peaceful enjoyment of the owner or occupier of another lot …
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There are various emergency provisions in strata law but the simplest thing might be for you to arrange an Extraordinary General Meeting (under Section 19, below) where you can present your plans and get them passed.
There shouldn’t be any objection to either the meeting or the proposal as you are taking away the owners corporation’s responsibility to fix the bathroom waterproofing.
Normally, you would have to bear the cost of the EGM and the by-laws written for it (unless there is a template in your existing by-laws) but since this is to everyone’s benefit, you might reasonably ask the owners corp to chip in.
All things being equal, the secretary will call the EGM, very few people will turn up, someone will object but they will be outvoted and you can get on with your renovation.
Be as accommodation as you can on issues like noise, removal of rubbish and use of qualified, licensed tradies and give your neighbours no reason to object.
But if they do, you can seek orders at NCAT forcing them to fix the leaks at their expense as a matter of urgency (and usually explaining that pulls the recalcitrants into line).
Regarding disruption to tenants, consider offering a rent reduction and minimising the time they will be unable to use the bathroom.
To calculate that, take the estimate of the time that bathroom installers have give you, add 50 percent and then another week, because that’s how long these things take in the real world.
Or put a penalty clause in the contract so that they pay for any extra time the bathroom is out of commission.
19 Other general meetings(1) The secretary or a strata committee of an owners corporation may convene a general meeting (that is not an annual general meeting) of the owners corporation at any time.
(2) The secretary of the owners corporation, or another officer if the secretary is absent, must convene a general meeting (that is not an annual general meeting) of the owners corporation as soon as practicable, and not later than 14 days after, receiving a qualified request.
(3) A meeting may be convened on a qualified request even if the first annual general meeting has not been held.
(4) A request is a qualified request for the purposes of this section if it is made by one or more owners of a lot or lots in the strata scheme having a total unit entitlement of at least one-quarter of the aggregate unit entitlements.
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The essential difference here is the committee not needing to hold a meeting and not being legally required to do so.
My question, which might have to wait until your next AGM, is why people are being elected to the committee when they have no intention of holding meetings?
I would be seriously tempted in your case to start agitating for more transparency from the committee about the decisions that are being made (or not) without the committee even discussing them.
If they are discussing them, they should be holding formal meetings.
Maybe you need to start a newsletter, asking for support leading up to the next AGM.
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There is a fair chance that these windows are common property and even if they aren’t, they probably shouldn’t have been altered without some sort of formal permission.
Judging by your other posts, two things occur to me:
1. Your strata scheme has been allowed to trundle along with few controls on what people do with their own and common property.
2. You are gearing up to bring everyone into line.
If this is true I would caution your that the reason the scheme is run like that may well be because that suits the majority of owners and tenants.
However, if you want to get everything sorted out, don’t try to do it all at once and don’t try to do it on your own. Have a chat with your neighbours and see what their priorities are before you set the ball rolling.
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It’s hard to say without knowing the exact circumstances but it sounds like they are running a business or inviting visitors – either of these could be a breach of your by-laws.
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Internal windows? Please explain.
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OK, in a scheme of 20 units, each owner can only carry one proxy.
Your AGM was quorate – just – but even if it hadn’t been, the chair only needed to wait half an hour then declare that those in attendance constituted a quorum.
You need to organise yourself before the next AGM to make sure that you carry valid proxies with enough people turning up to elect a new committee.
You don’t need to foment revolution – just a quiet word here and there about how the building is being run, deteriorating standards, reducing values and excessive costs. That usually does the trick.
By the way, a committee of five may be too many for a scheme your size – especially when two people never turn up. Again, your next AGM should set the number of people on the committee (three would be adequate).
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@MNC2444 said:
Firstly, can parking spaces be used to store boats or is the intention that it only for motor vehicles or motor bikes.The answer to this and most of these questions lie firstly in your by-laws and then in your strata plan.
If your by-laws say parking spaces can only be used for parking vehicles then that’s what should be enforced. The same applies to your original strata plan and the DA issued by the council.
I would say parking a boat there is storage rather than parking – but others might disagree.
Secondly, are cars allowed to park on common ground such as a turning bay.
Usually this is prohibited by a by-law. This is the current model by-law (but your scheme may have something different).
1 VehiclesAn owner or occupier of a lot must not park or stand any motor or other vehicle on common property, or permit a motor vehicle to be parked or stood on common property, except with the prior written approval of the owners corporation or as permitted by a sign authorised by the owners corporation.
Thirdly, can owners park their vehicle/vehicles on spaces that are owned by other apartment owners.
Not without their permission. That would be trespass. But owners can allow anyone they like to park in their spot.
Also, are owners allowed to store boxes and a myriad of junk within the confines of their car spaces, or is such clutter only allowed within the caged zones.
Check your by-laws relating to storage and parking.
And are owners allowed to store canoes and push bikes within communal areas or are these restricted to same caged zones.
Again check your by-laws. The model one (which you might not have) says this:
4 Obstruction of common propertyAn owner or occupier of a lot must not obstruct lawful use of common property by any person except on a temporary and non-recurring basis.
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Technically, a developer can’t “own” a majority of votes if they have sold more than one-third of units but less than half. Until such times as more than 50 per cent of the property has been sold, their holding is reduced to one-third.
But even if the developer has only sold one quarter of the units, or has sold units to effective proxies, and is dragging his or her heels on defects, there must be an item on AGM agendas dealing with defects (see Schedule 1, 6 (d) below) and the developer is not permitted to vote on it (Sc 1, 15).
Family members or business partners may be similarly prevented from voting as they are “connected persons”, as defined by Section 7 of the Act.
So, to answer your question, you just raise the issue at your AGM and then exclude the owner and his cronies from the vote. If you’ve had an AGM at which defects weren’t discussed or the owner voted, demand a new AGM or seek orders at NCAT.
As a last resort, you could go to NCAT and ask for orders requiring the Owners Corp to pursue defects claims before the deadline runs out.
Schedule 1 Meeting procedures of owners corporation
6 Required items of agenda for AGMThe agenda for each annual general meeting must include the following items:
(d) until the end of warranty periods for applicable statutory warranties under the Home Building Act 1989 for buildings of the strata scheme, an item to consider building defects and rectification.
15 Developer or lessor excluded from votes relating to building defectsThe developer or lessor of a leasehold strata scheme is not entitled to vote, or exercise a proxy vote, on a matter concerning building defects in, or the rectification of building defects in, building work to which Part 11 of this Act applies.
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I’m no lawyer, but …
Taking the picture is not illegal and neither is putting it on the notice board, per se.
If it was posted with the intention of trying to identify the culprits so they could be “re-educated”, that’s probably OK too.
However, if the picture was pinned up with the proven malicious intention of embarrassing and humiliating the subjects and causing other owners or visitors to the building to think less of them, then you could find yourself on the wrong end of a civil defamation action.
Unlikely, I admit. But then so is going to all that trouble over a couple of cardboard boxes.
By the way, pixellation would have avoided the above while still achieving the “oh, that’s me!” effect.
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