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@dingo said:
Since they have changed the railing from obscure glass to clear glass people can look directly into our unit as we are on the ground floor.I think I would also be asking the Owners Corp to restore the privacy of your unit by applying a partially opaque tint to the balcony glass. They could and should so that for all all ground-floor units, for the sake of uniformity, if nothing else.
But it sounds like you are free to install internals shutters regardless.
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I love the way editing this website sends me off to find stuff I didn’t know. On consulting Professor Google and Dr Wikipedia, I found there is a thing called the Elevator Algorithm which not only controls most elevators but is the principle behind the control of the hard disk on your computer. Weird or what?
So here is the basic Elevator Algorithm (purloined from Wikipedia).
The elevator algorithm
The elevator algorithm, a simple algorithm by which a single elevator can decide where to stop, is summarized as follows:
- Continue traveling in the same direction while there are remaining requests in that same direction.
- If there are no further requests in that direction, then stop and become idle, or change direction if there are requests in the opposite direction.
The elevator algorithm has found an application in computer operating systems as an algorithm for scheduling hard disk requests. Modern elevators use more complex heuristic algorithms to decide which request to service next.
My point is, this is not something new. If your elevator is even older than computers, it should be using that very basic algorithm and so you have grounds to go to your committee and say it’s broken and you are duty bound by law to fix it.
This is a much easier argument to present than “it’s not working in a way that treats all residents fairly and equally.”
OK, I am putting my chairperson’s hat on now: “It’s working perfectly and it has always operated like that so how can it be broken?”
And your answer is, “maybe it has always been broken or it broke in the early days and never got fixed – but that is not an excuse for not fixing it.”
Now, this is where the politics get tricky. You have to present yourself as being reasonable and even apologetic but determined to get this essential piece of infrastructure working for the benefit of everyone in the building.
So first of all, ask to see the report they got from an an independent lift engineer who was familiar with older elevators (rather than someone from the same company that installed the lift all those years ago but only knows new systems).
The chances are this report doesn’t exist – so you ask for one.
And if they refuse, you tell them that you will very reluctantly (but determinedly) start an action at Fair Trading and then NCAT to compel them to do something. And then you offer to do the legwork so that you can resolve the situation – or discover that it can’t be easily resolved – and present them with options to put to the other owners.
And by the way, you might want to start your legwork HERE or HERE.
And let us know how you go. Our buildings are ageing and eventually we’re all going to need help with the most expensive piece of infrastructure that we collectively own.
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@Tess McGill said:
… does your strata scheme have any rules / bylaws about external appearances of the block, and will the shutters be very plainly not like everyone else’ window coverings?This is the key question. Our building has a by-law limiting the colour of internal window coverings that can be seen from outside. An owner who had bought very expensive black black-out blinds had to replace them with white blinds to comply.
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Over here in NSW there is a fixed fee set by Fair Trading ($28, I think) for strata managers to give access to owners to view records. They are also permitted to charge more for photocopying etc.
As far as what you consider to be their duties, you have a point. But if your strata manager was one of those guys who in NSW makes the bulk of their profit on Schedule B charges, it could be a much more expensive proposition.
Getting back to your situation, if it isn’t in the contract or part of strata laws (and I have no idea if it is) then it isn’t a duty.
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Don’t underestimate lateral noise transfer. In many modern apartment blocks, all the units on each floor, sit on the same concrete slab. But the best rule is the simplest – does the flooring cause a problem for neighbours?
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@dingo said:
Will it be a better job if it’s approved by way special resolution or standard resolution?Probably – because special resolutions must, by law, attribute ongoing repair and maintenance to someone (or if not, then it defaults to the owners corp).
So you would think that the person or body named in the special resolution would make sure it wasn’t going to come back and bite them on the bum.
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A non-owner can be elected to the committee provided they are not the scheme’s building manager or a rental agent for properties in the building, and provided the owner nominating them is not standing for election him or herself.
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To be fair, it sounds like the strata manager is merely giving the committee some ammunition to use against owners who want to let their units on Airbnb.
None of this is set in stone but it gives the committee grounds for threatening short-term letting owners.
Whether or not they have a leg to stand on would only be established after it had been run through NCAT and the losing side had appealed.
The committee clearly wants to warn off potential Airbnb hosts. Whether or not it works depends on the hosts.
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@supersleuth said:
… in relation to the absent owner & their proxy….does it have to be another owner or can it be anyone?Does who have to be another owner? For what?
A non-owner can be an owner’s proxy at an AGM provided they are named on the appropriate form (and aren’t precluded for other reasons).
A non-owner can also be nominated for and elected to the committee, whether or not they are a proxy holder.
I don’t think a non-owner proxy holder can nominate anyone for election to the committee.
However, any owner can nominate someone in writing at any point after the meeting is called and before the election is held so a non-owner proxy could carry the owner’s written nomination with them to the meeting
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Do I detect the sweet smell of revenge in the air?
Getting him removed from your committee for a couple of dodgy mutually beneficial deals is not even on the same planet as having him sacked from a company board for a crime or misdemeanour.
Remember, the higher the stakes, the more effort required and the greater the chances of failure.
The easiest way to achieve this is to concentrate on getting the numbers required to change the configuration of the committee at the next AGM.
Or you could confront him with the evidence that you are going to present at the next AGM and invite him to resign.
Given that he was badly advised by the strata manager, I don’t think a charge of corruption at NCAT is likely to fly.
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Nobody who has been a regular reader of this website or my columns in the SMH will be surprised to learn that I probably do have a problem with it.
But let’s look at the facts (and I’m going to play devil’s advocate here) If the building is fully jointly residential/commercial then there shouldn’t be a problem.
However, I suspect that the zoning allows for both commercial activity in the commercial section and residential-only in the residential section. If that’s the case, then you shouldn’t be running short-stay lets in the building. End of story.
But let’s assume you never set out to maintain your city pad using Airbnb but, hey, when it came along, why wouldn’t you use it? Is there a middle ground?
Regarding the insurance, the law allows for people whose use of their lot causes insurance premiums to be raised to pay the difference individually, so you could go back to the strata manager and ask them to obtain a quote for the increased insurance, with a view to paying it.
Also, as you may have read elsewhere on this website, there is considerable discussion about whether anti-Airbnb by-laws are valid or not. You might want to re-list and take your chances at NCAT.
But let’s look at the big picture: unfortunately for you, your neighbours really don’t want you allowing complete strangers over whom neither you nor they have authority, control nor responsibility getting free access to their home.
By the way, the unofficial council moratorium on illegal holiday letting doesn’t mean the law has changed, it just means that your councillors and council workers have found another excuse for not doing their jobs.
You could re-list your property and wait for the committee to take you to NCAT as a test case and/or do their damndest to make your life difficult (nothing personal, but I would).
Cancelled keys, fines for not registering tenants names, fines for not handing over copies of the by-laws, reports to the tax office, locked access to facilities … there’s a whole armoury there for the determined anti-short-stay committee without so much as filling in a Fair Trading form.
So perhaps the best solution may be to find another property where short-stay letting is allowed, if not actively encouraged. And sell your flat at a premium.
You’ll make a profit – nobody wants to live in a block of flats that’s being turned into a holiday hotel, so residents will be desperate to sell.
And people who love living in apartments will pay more to stay somewhere that actively keeps the short-stay set at bay.
Win-win?
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I just had a look and I have to say I am very impressed. It’s free, for a start, and they have a link back to the Flat Chat website.
Who could ask for anything more?
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There are so many thing wrong with this it’s hard to know where to start.
A committee can’t give exclusive use of common property – that requires a 75 percent vote at an AGM.
Also, you simply can’t re-assign visitor parking to exclusive use of a resident for a number of reasons.
Strata committee votes – even strata by-laws – definitely don’t supersede council zoning.
Sack your chairman, and at the first opportunity. If not for misusing his position, then for the potential legal hassles you will face in the future as you try to undo his handiwork.
Meanwhile, get in touch with your strata manager’s head office, tell them you have been given advice here on this website and ask for another strata manager to be assigned or, at the very least, that the current one gets a little attitude adjustment and retraining.
That’s easier that trying to prove a breach of contract.
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Wraith said
The block contains 8 lots and 8 garages, 6 of which have adequate space in front of the garage doors to park a vehicle. Can you confirm whether granting occupiers approval to park there would be regarded as a case of “exclusive use” for those occupiers even though it would not be denying use to anyone who currently has it?
The difference between “written permission” and a special use by-law is that the latter would require the written approval of the beneficiary to change (meaning it could be sold as part of the whole package to a new owner) whereas the former could be rescinded at any time by a majority vote of your committee.
But let’s not beat about the bush here, this is a land grab that effectively doubles allocated parking space to the clear benefit of the majority even though it isn’t to the detriment of the minority (although I would want to see clearly defined turning circles etc).
There is a legal concept of “fraud on the minority” which occurs basically when all the procedural processes stack up but the outcome is unfair on those who were outvoted.
The fairest way to do this would be to “licence” the use of the space outside the garages for a small weekly rental – say $20 a week – which would go into general funds to the partial benefit of those who didn’t have the option of getting a free extra parking spot.
Of course, the car owners would benefit from that too, but at least it would redress the balance a little.
There will be garage owners who say this is just tough luck on the minority of two, which is what I would also say when I was taking the owners corp to NCAT to have any unfair arrangement overturned.
There is another reason for not going down the special resolution road; your local council has allowed a certain number of parking spaces. By officially increasing them by 75 per cent, you are in breach of your DA and should apply for council permission (which you almost certainly won’t get).
Doing this by anything other than completely transparent and scrupulously fair means leaves you wide open to any disgruntled current or future minority owner to run you through Fair Trading and NCAT – then everyone loses.
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This is going to sound a bit harsh but seriously, a resident who decides to save money by not properly insuring his or her vehicle then expects all his neighbours to cough up their hard-earned to cover their incompetence?
Of course insurers will try to recoup the money – they are not a charity … and neither is the owners’ corp.
If my OC proposed paying a resident’s bill for something like this I would drag them all the way to NCAT.
That said, if every owner in the block, without exception, wants to stump up for the car park Fangio, that’s a different matter. I applaud your sense of community.
But this is not about the big bad insurance firm persecuting a poor little tenant. If you can’t afford insurance, you can’t afford a car.
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