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All you can do is set aside all the politics and shenanigans and vote on the proposal on its merits, and according to your conscience.. Every issue will have a winner and a loser – Hell will break loose when it wants to, regardless of what you do.
FYI: For anyone reading this who may be in any doubt, an abstention is not a vote, which may seem obvious but is critical in calculating special resolutions which are based on the percentages of people voting.
For instance, if there are 30 owners at a meeting and 23 of them vote for a special resolution and seven vote against, the resolution passes because that’s fewer than 25 percent voting against.
However, if three of the 30 abstain, the number of people voting is now 27 and the seven “nay” votes constitute more than 25 per cent. You could say that in a tight vote an abstention is a No and should be regarded as such. It is not a neutral decision.
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I would think the application/request should come from the owner only.
Absolutely. This is a renovation, effectively, not just the installation of a new piece of furniture. The tenant needs to come to an arrangement with the owner first, which answers the question about informing them.
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Has anyone had luck with changing this or just been given the push back that a) its a standard contract that can’t be changed b) It was written by lawyer and can’t be changed c) these are the terms – take it or leave it.
All of the above arguments are very familiar and the only one that matters is the last one. Strata contracts are not holy scripture – they are a business agreement between two entities. You don’t even have to have a strata manager (unless you are a very large building in Victoria).
I always laugh when I hear anyone say – oh, this was written by a lawyer and therefore it can’t be changed. Sez who? If the strata manager won’t, or says they can’t change the terms of the contracts (they probably can, they just don’t want to) then show them the door. There are nearly 3,000 full-time strata managers in NSW and the Strata Community Association (SCA) has more than 200 companies on its books (and that’s only 75 percent of the industry). You must be able to find a strata manager who will make the compromises you need.
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There are new strata laws coming into effect soon. ( they have been passed by parliament and just waiting to be gazetted)
The new laws which will come in around November mean contracts will have to line up with National consumer protection laws, meaning any that are seen to unfairly disadvantage consumers – that’s us – can be challenged.
I believe SCA has already rewritten the standard strata management contract to reflect this. If your strata manager insists on using the standard contract, make sure it’s the current one.
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Once the period ends the owners can elect a Committee at the AGM, nobody is prevented from being on the Committee or holding office.
You would hope that the other owners would be dismayed enough by this to not re-elect the same problematic committee members.
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Just to clear things up, in NSW strata a resolution of an owners corporation is a unanimous resolution if it is passed at a properly convened general meeting and no vote is cast against the resolution.
That’s significant as it doesn’t require everyone to vote in favour, which can often be hard to achieve for a variety of reasons.
All that said and done, Section 108 says this:
108 Changes to common property(1) Procedure for authorising changes to common property
An owners corporation or an owner of a lot in a strata scheme may add to the common property, alter the common property or erect a new structure on common property for the purpose of improving or enhancing the common property.
(2) Any such action may be taken by the owners corporation or owner only if a special resolution has first been passed by the owners corporation that specifically authorises the taking of the particular action proposed.
So that looks like all you need is a special resolution (check with a strata lawyer) plus, of course, a DA from your local council. And you will need to draw up and register a new strata plan too. of courseIf 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.
Proxies are not Unit Entitlements. Your UEs are the figure by which your levies are calculated and they also carry a voting power that can be used as alternative to a simple show of hands, which is called a poll vote. A poll vote prevails over a show of hands. It is highly unlikely that your apartments all have exactly the same UEs.
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Was it really tied or were unit entitlements (UEs) taken into account? It’s highly unlikely that every apartment has the same UEs so the chair or strata manager may have quietly made it a poll vote – alculated on UEs, and which any owner can call for at any time – and that would have give one side or the other a majority.
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Firstly, this is a majority owner acting against the interests of the minority, so if it were a fraud (which it issn’t) in would be a fraud on the moinority.
The case to which you refer was where a majority owner used their superior voting power to award themselves the roof space in the building.
In the case cited here, the majority owner isn’t defrauding or stealing from the minority but they are playing fast and loose with the laws. I would reckon this would be a prime case for the appointment of a compulsory strata manager under section 237:
Circumstances in which order may be made
The Tribunal may make an order only if satisfied that—
(a) the management of a strata scheme the subject of an application for an order under this Act or an appeal to the Tribunal is not functioning or is not functioning satisfactorily, or
(b) an owners corporation has failed to comply with a requirement imposed on the owners corporation by an order made under this Act, or
(c) an owners corporation has failed to perform one or more of its duties, or
(d) an owners corporation owes a judgment debt.
But first the minority owners would have to ge an order, maybe under Section 232:
232 Orders to settle disputes or rectify complaints(1) Orders relating to complaints and disputes
The Tribunal may, on application by an interested person, original owner or building manager, make an order to settle a complaint or dispute about any of the following—
(a) the operation, administration or management of a strata scheme under this Act,
(b) an agreement authorised or required to be entered into under this Act,
(c) an agreement appointing a strata managing agent or a building manager,
(d) an agreement between the owners corporation and an owner, mortgagee or covenant chargee of a lot in a strata scheme that relates to the scheme or a matter arising under the scheme,
(e) an exercise of, or failure to exercise, a function conferred or imposed by or under this Act or the by-laws of a strata scheme,
(f) an exercise of, or failure to exercise, a function conferred or imposed on an owners corporation under any other Act.
(2) Failure to exercise a function For the purposes of this section, an owners corporation, strata committee or building management committee is taken not to have exercised a function if—
(a) it decides not to exercise the function, or
(b) application is made to it to exercise the function and it fails for 2 months after the making of the application to exercise the function in accordance with the application or to inform the applicant that it has decided not to exercise the function in accordance with the application.
(3) Other proceedings and remedies A person is not entitled—
(a) to commence other proceedings in connection with the settlement of a dispute or complaint the subject of a current application by the person for an order under this section, or
(b) to make an application for an order under this section if the person has commenced, and not discontinued, proceedings in connection with the settlement of a dispute or complaint the subject of the application.
Clearly, the first thing they should do is contact an experienced strata lawyer.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.
He’s not the first to try but there are safeguards in place. My first step would be to apply to NCAT for the compulsory appointment of a strata manager (and make sure you have one ready to step in if the appointment is awarded).
If successful, the strata manager will make all the decisions for the building for at least a year, probably two, during which time you can get all your essential repairs done in a timely manner.
If you are considering this, I suggest you and your other minority owners talk to an experienced strata lawyer first.
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Congrats! Now just make sure that the Owners Corp raises a special levy that you don’t have to pay to cover the costs of their legal rep etc, as per section 90 of the Act.
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I have a feeling that I have read somewhere that floors in townhouses are not common property. Anyone else?
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I think what you need to look at is the schemes ongoing 10-year maintenance plan and work out where you are in that.
The maintenance plan has to be renewed every five years (for the next 10) so it sound like you are in the middle of that cycle now.
What you want to establish is what maintenance still needs to be done to fulfill the requirements of the maintenance plan for the next few years and what has been sidelined to concentrate on the more immediate isse.
The fact that the vendor is allso the treasurer is actually an opportunity. He knows what the true situation is and has a vested interest in explaining the situation to you – if he deliberately misleads you, you could have a comeback.
So talk to the treaurer and ask him if he can spend half an hour explainging things to you. Then ask for a written summary of what he’s told you. If he’s in any way reluctant to provide that, be prepared to look elsewhere.
[A discussion about communicating with committees has been moved to HERE]
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Ask your committee or strata manager to arrange the removal of the offending goods as quickly as possible before it is established as a dumping spot, and hop that it’s just a one-off. In the absence of repeated behaviour, I wouldn’t even put up signs – that will just make people think what a good idea it is to dump there.
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The simple answer is, not a lot on your own.
You could talk to other committee members and ask them to put some pressure on this person or you could wait until your next general meeting and propose a motion that this person be removed or not re-elected to the committee.
I’m not sure when the new laws come in, but we will soon be able to remove committee members from the committee by a simple majority at a general meeting.
You could propose than motion and ask it to be added to the agenda of the next AGM or EGM. You will be allowed to attach an explanation of why they should be removed. Stick to the facts – filter out emotions and opinions – and at the very least their behaviour will then be a matter of strata record.
And when they threaten defamation action – as they will – point them in the direction of this news story from a couple of years back.
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