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Under the new laws you no longer have to go back to NCAT and seek an order to pay a fine that had already been imposed by NCAT.
Now, if a penalty has been imposed and the resident hasn’t paid, you can go directly to a district court and ask for an order to pay. See section 147 (below).
By the way it refers to much higher penalties for breaches of Section 137 which refers to over-crowding.
The process now is:
1. Issue Notice to comply.
If the resident ignores and breaches the by-law again…2. Seek a penalty at NCAT for failure to comply.
If the penaly is oredered but the resident fails to pay …3. Seek debt recovery (as explained in item 3 above), including an order from a local court
Payment to go to Owners CorpThe system used to be
1. Issue Notice to comply.
If the resident ignores …2. Seek a penalty at NCAT for failure to comply.
If the resident fails to pay …3. Seek an order from NCAT to pay the penalty.
If the resident still doesn’t pay …4. Seek an order from a local court
Payment to go into state coffersSSMA 2015
147 Civil penalty for breach of by-law
(1) The Tribunal may, on application by an owners corporation, order a person to pay a monetary penalty of up to 10 penalty units if the Tribunal is satisfied that:
(a) the owners corporation gave a notice under this Division to the person requiring the person to comply with a by-law, and
(b) the person has since contravened the by-law.
(2) The Tribunal may, on application by an owners corporation, order a person to pay a monetary penalty of up to 20 penalty units if the Tribunal is satisfied that the person has contravened a by-law within 12 months after the Tribunal had imposed a monetary penalty on the person for a previous breach of the by-law.
(3) Despite subsections (1) and (2), the Tribunal may, in dealing with a contravention of a by-law made under section 137, impose a monetary penalty of up to 50 penalty units under subsection (1) and a monetary penalty of up to 100 penalty units under subsection (2).
(4) An application for an order under subsection (1) must be made not later than 12 months after the notice was given.
(5) An owners corporation is not required to give notice under this Division before applying for an order under subsection (2).
(6) A monetary penalty is payable to the owners corporation, unless the Tribunal otherwise orders.
Note : The penalty may be registered as a judgment debt and will be enforceable accordingly (see section 78 of the Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 ).
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I would start from the point that Section 139 says any by-law “must not be harsh, unconscionable or oppressive.”
Then, by implication, a bylaw that required committee members to act reasonably, fairly and honestly may well pass muster.
However, if it insisted that they enforce the by-laws, that might be seen as oppressive, as there may be times when it is in the best interests of the majority of owners not to do so (for instance, when informal parking arrangements technically infringe by-laws but every body is happy with them).
Also, you can’t demand that strata committee members sign a code of conduct as that might limit their ability to serve on the committee in a way that that Act does not envisage.
It would be a too easy for someone to sign a code of conduct and just ignore it when it suited them. What do you do then? Issue a Notice To Comply?
I know there are circumstances where having a code of conduct might appear to be helpful, but if you have someone who is going to behave unreasonably, then I wonder if a code of conduct is going to make much difference.
That said, these documents often act, at best, as a reminder to people of how they should behave rather than a mechanism for punishing them when they don’t.
It’s like a mission statement – this is how things should be (even if they often aren’t).
On balance, I think a Code of Conduct like the ACT’s might be valuable but I wouldn’t go to the barricades to have it introduced.
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Checking that names had been registered was a tactic suggested by the now-departed Fair Trading Commissioner Rod Stowe as a way of clamping down on short-term letting.
But it’s one of these things that usually only becomes an issue when it’s a problem. If you have a problem with a tenant, you try to find out their name and if you don’t have a record, you ping the landlord for failure to notify.
Nine times out of ten you will find that the landlord or agent hasn’t notified the Owners Corp (because very few people do) so you are fairly safe in seeking a fine via the tribunal. Of course, first you would have to seek mediation at Fair Trading so it may be just more of a bureaucratic hassle than an actual penalty.
Having said that, I haven’t heard of anyone actually doing this, but the mechanism and the penalties are there if you want to go down that road.
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The duty lies with the lot owner. No one else can possibly be expected to know whether or not they have let the property or to whom they have let it.
Since strata managers are rarely if ever in the building, how can they be expected to know when there are new faces in a property?
This is something the committee needs to be aware of (and one of the many reasons why it’s a really dumb idea to allow your committee to be dominated by absentee investor owners).
If you have an on-site building manager, the committee should be asking them to take note of changes of residency in units, which should then be pursued with the lot owner.
There’s a reason there’s a $550 fine attached to these breaches – it’s both a deterrent and now makes it worth the strata committee’s effort in pursuing them.
If I were on the committee in a building that had a problem with this, I’d be sending out a notice reminding landlords and agents that they have a duty in this regard and asking other residents to alert the committee about changes in tenancies of other units.
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@scotlandx said:
Real estate agents often don’t do it, but it is a requirement under the Act that owners give the details of tenants within 14 days.And it’s a maximum fine of $550 if you don’t – now payable to the Owners Corp. Heck – it’s a virtual revenue stream!
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For what it’s worth, I think the Code of Conduct is a bit much to have as well as the standing orders, and you run the risk of losing everything because of perceived overkill.
I also share other Flatchatters concern about the legal standing of the code of conduct. You can’t force people to sign it so, or prevent them being elected if they don’t, so why would they?
My advice would be to get your standing orders through and then have an extended discussion with all owners before the next AGM about what form a code of conduct might take before presenting it to next year’s AGM.
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@Mailbox said:
Code of conduct I think is something everyone will just agree to sign, and good luck with trying to achieve compliance. The majority of reasonable people already follow these – the troublemakers will never follow them and having them sign this won’t change that. They are bullies who ignore sanctions which have no teeth.The reason I suggested having a “naming” mechanism is so that, at the very least, at the next AGM you can show that certain members have been consistently disruptive and encourage owners not to re-elect them to allow for the smooth running of the committee.
The reason I suggested this be put to a vote at the committee was to show that the majority of the committee agreed they had been disruptive and to ensure there was no comeback with threats of defamation. The committee has qualified privilege when it comes to identifying owners who have caused problems. In other words, the “naming” is part of the process rather than a personal dispute between the disruptive owner and the chair.
Recording the meetings and posting them on social media would be a bridge too far for many committee members who want to be able to have an open and frank discussion about issues the details of which they don’t necessarily want to broadcast to the world.
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I agree that it’s not crystal clear but my understanding is that even though the appointment form can cover several meetings, it has to be confirmed at each meeting.
Otherwise committee members would be subverting the right of the owners to elect their committee.
In this situation, where there was a extended nomination covering a number of meetings, unless there were extenuating circumstances, I would be arguing strongly at committee that the elected member has no interest in the proceedings and should be invited to resign, meanwhile their stand-in will not be allowed to participate.
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@El capitan said:
Reading that section, it appears an Acting Member’s presence would count when establishing a quorum (“The owner or company nominee appointed is, while so acting as a member, taken to be a member.”). Am I reading that right?No. The presence of an acting member has to be approved by the committee. The committee can’t vote until a quorum is established so the acting member can’t be counted as part of the quorum because they haven’t yet been ‘voted in’ by the committee.
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It don’t see anything essentially contradictory about these. However Regulation (a) is one of the dumbest things I have seen in a while.
It’s a clear sign that the people writing these regs have probably never set foot in an apartment block less than 10 years old (if at all).
Think of all these older buildings where the only insulation on timber floors was carpet (and very effective it was too). Hey, lift the carpet and you have a free timber floor … and a steady stream of complaints form your downstairs neighbours, arguments, visits to NCAT and misery.
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@analuk said:
Yes interesting topic this one – in a democratic society – equability seems the key here in being able to programme the lift to provide service to all floors on a fair basis to all residents.Interestingly (well, to a geek like me, anyway) modern lifts can be programmed to suit the most efficient movement of people at different times of the day.
For instance, in the evening they can all return to the ground floor as soon as they have taken people home, ready for the next people who return from work, but in the morning they can default back to a mid point to be nearer the next people going to work.
In some large office buildings, the lifts “rest” at the coffee shop floor in mid-morning to be ready to take workers back to their offices after their coffee break.
Apparently there is a computer game based on the software that was developed to program lifts in this way.
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@Kenny R said:
We have counted around 50 windows in our 12 unit townhouse complex that could cost the OC well over $3000 to have the current window winders replaced. Why should this be the OC’s responsibility? Why not individual owners?It’s swings and roundabouts. The Owners Corp is a collection of all the owners. You will all end up paying one way or another (although a group “buy” would be cheaper than individual installations.
Your unit entitlements are roughly related to the size of your lot which may (or may not) be related to the number of windows. Windows are part of common property which is why the owners corp has the ultimate responsibilty.
Strata buildings tend to be higher than houses, which is why there’s a focus on strata schemes. Not all windows above the ground floor require locks (those that open on to balconies, for instance).
Generally speaking, when you move into any kind of strata, you get certain shared benefits and responsibilities. If you want the former, you need to accept the latter – or maybe you should be looking at a free-standing house.
You’ll find the basics on the window regulations HERE.
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Actually, you asked this question nine months ago and received This Answer.
In the meantime, we published this guide. The process you are interested in is called Redevelopment.
And our sponsors Lannock Finance have a package that explains how you would finance the initial process to get plans drawn up so you can proceed.
Time to get past the “analysis paralysis” and make some calls.
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Have a look here. There is a process in place for this kind of thing and all the costs can be included in the overall budget.
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