[Jimmy-T]

A separate discussion about privacy has been generated by this topic.  I have opened up a new sub-topic which you can access HERE.

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.

[Jimmy-T]

There seems to be a lot of debate and considerable disparity between the states and individual strata professionals about the rights and wrongs of supplying owners’ email addresses.

The law in most if not all states requires that all records of the Owners Corporation be made available to all owners. As you will see from other posts here,  some interpret that to include email addresses, others don’t.

The “No” argument is that emails are not part of the strata roll therefore they are not required to be passed on as part of the information package and to do so would breach the Privacy Act.

The other argument is that Owners Corporations with an annual turnover of less that $3 million a year don’t come under the Privacy Act in any case, and that email addresses and even phone numbers constitute part of the record of the Owners Corporation.

I suspect there is also an element of strata managers not wishing to discourage owners from providing email addresses as they make life so much easier as well as saving hectares of trees.

Meanwhile, I guess until some brave soul applies to NCAT to demand access to their OC’s email addresses, then we will have to take our best guess.

Anyway, I have transferred over the above posts from another topic for your perusal and edification.

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.

[Jimmy-T]

Nor sure about the specific legalities of all this but members who sell automatically cease to be members when they are no longer owners, regardless of whether they resign in writing or not.

If the number of members of the EC was set at 5 at the last AGM, it also looks like at some point the meeting ceased to be quorate, meaning any decisions they made may have been invalid.

However, you would have to seek orders from an NCAT adjudicator to overturn the decisions and to succeed you would have to prove that a “serious injustice” occurred because of the decisions being made while the meeting was inquorate.

The next logical step, if that is established, would be to hold an EGM to elect a new committee – but I’m not sure any adjudicator would demand that.

Anyone else been in this situation? Here’s what the Act says:

 

Division 11 Provisions relating to orders of Adjudicator

163   Dismissal of application on certain grounds

(2)  If the ground for an application for an order under this Part is:

(a)  the absence of a quorum at a meeting, or

(b)  a defect, irregularity or deficiency of notice or time,

an Adjudicator may, by order, dismiss the application if the Adjudicator believes that no substantial injustice has resulted.

(3)  An Adjudicator may, by order, dismiss an application for an order under this Part on any other ground that the Adjudicator considers appropriate.

(4)  Without limiting the generality of subsection (3), an Adjudicator may, by order, dismiss an application for an order under this Part if:

(a)  the Adjudicator believes that the application is frivolous, vexatious, misconceived or lacking in substance, or

(b)  the Adjudicator believes that a decision in favour of the applicant is not within the jurisdiction of the Adjudicator, or

(c)  the Adjudicator believes that the applicant has unreasonably delayed the provision of information required by the Adjudicator, or

(d)  in the case of an application made by an owner of a lot in the strata scheme concerned, the applicant has not paid all contributions levied and payable in relation to the lot under this Act.

(5)  An Adjudicator may dismiss an application in accordance with this section even though the notice requirements of Part 3 have not been complied with and despite that a time, or extended time, specified for making written submissions on the application has not expired.

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.

[Jimmy-T]

Brilliant!  I never fail to be amazed at how clever, resourceful and helpful the readers of this website are.

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.

[Jimmy-T]

@@tomic said:
I left a message with [one solicitor] but they never returned my call. Although I didn’t go into the details, I got the impression from the receptionist tone that I wasn’t at the top of their call back list. I’m going to give Kerin Benson a try next.
 

Our sponsors, Sachs Gerace are already all over this (see above).  Why not give them a call.

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.

[Jimmy-T]

There is a way round this and one thast is very common in business and even the law.

You write one short and to-the-point email with your bullet points. Keeping them brief and factual. Then you explain everything else in an attachment.

Thus in your case you would say something like …

This is a request to have payments that I have made to the OC recorded and acknowledged.

1. On [date] I had a judgement of debt to OC of {amount} made against me.

2. On {date} and agreement was reached to repay the amount in installments. (See attached documents)

3. To date, I have repaid [amount] (See attached documents)

4. Despite this, our strata manager refuses to acknowledge these payements and I am now faced with threats of bankputcy.

I call on the OC to instruct the strata manager to acknowledge my payments and cease his threats to have me declared bankrupt.

Please see the attached documents for a full explanation of the situation.

Now, this may not be the most appropriate wording for your covering letter – you would adjust it to suit – but it gets the basic message across without expecting people to read reams of detail.

Try to make your attachment a brief as possible too, keep it organised, and include documentation and photocopies of receipts.

As someone who has worked in publishing an TV, I can tell you that even people whose job it is to read stuff, won’t read pages and pages unless they really have to.

Make life easy for people and they might just make life easy for you.

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.

[Jimmy-T]

As I said, I know they are doing it wrong but are they managing the place badly.

Apart from the strutting martinet who believes that if he doesn’t know something then it must be stupid, the constant rewriting of history to make himself look good, the jumping at shadows in case someone sues  etc etc.

But the day is fast approaching when we need to get out of the bar and on to the barricades.  I can only hope that all my courage isn’t Dutch.

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.

[Jimmy-T]

I would think asking a specialist strata lawyer would be fairly inevitable so you may as well do that now.

The first thing they are going to ask is whether the “private” garden is part of the lot or common property.

If it’s the latter, then the issue is entirely with the Owners Corporation. If it’s the former, then it’s probably a dispute between two neighbours.

By the way, your neighbour – who will undoubtedly be very annoyed – should probably take the matter up with the original builder who sold a property knowing that they had no rights to some of the area that they were selling.

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.

[Jimmy-T]

In our experience, alarms only work to alert someone that the door is open after the culprit has gone – which helps security but isn’t a deterrent (and can be really annoying).

Movement activated lights and Wi-fi cameras are relatively cheap and act both as a deterrent and for evidence gathering for serial offenders. 

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.

[Jimmy-T]

Of course, the easiest thing to do would be to ban cloning of key fobs without a signed and sealed letter from the strata manager.

But then people would start whining about the “Nanny State”…

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.

[Jimmy-T]

Hey,

What happened?

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.

[Jimmy-T]

I think we have shown both sides of the story.

There are people who know they are in the right and refuse to give up, even if it means hounding their EC with emails, letters and phone calls until they get a result. Often, that kind of sustained campaign is the only way to get results.

And there are people who think they are right and refuse to listen when they are told that they aren’t.  There is no reasoning with someone who won’t see reason – these are the ones who can be a nuisance and it’s hard to know what to do when you are bombarded with illogical and abusive emails. 

This also applies to committee members who refuse to listen.  But where do you draw the line? And when does a determined campaign become counter-productive? 

I have been called a serial pest myself, on occasion. It’s a badge I wear with pride because by being determined and stubborn, I have effected change.

And you’re not going to get bounced from this forum for taking a contrary opinion.  You’d be more likely to get locked out for agreeing with me in an abusive manner.

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.

[Jimmy-T]

Agree, as usual, with Whale.

There is no Owners Corporation, per se, when a statutory appointment is in place, so the OC can’t apply for an extension.

I am also told it is routine for strata managers to make an application for an extension, and for that to be granted, because it is very rare for owners to have organised themselves and resolved the issues that caused the appointment in the first place, within the initial term of the appointment.

It sounds like your strata manager just doesn’t want the gig any more, possibly because it’s more hassle than it’s worth.  It happens!  

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.

[Jimmy-T]

Pamster said 

Bravo Isydowner for your comments, it’s a shame though that you may not now see this response.

and …

No, I am not a serial pest / email writer, and neither am I vexatious (this is borne out by my successes) and to read … on this forum that other people could have the same view is equally offensive.

So you support Isydowner indulging in abusive language but object to people being described as “serial pests” because someone elsewhere has described you as that?

Am I the only one who sees the double standard here?

Isydownder was free to express his opinions but the language and the personal attacks he employed were simply not acceptable.

By the way, Isydowner can read anything he likes here, he just can’t participate any more because he was warned about his tone and took that as a opportunity to be even more aggressive.

I try to maintain an open dialogue but I am not interested in allowing anyone to be personally abused on this forum, regardless of their opinions.

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.

[Jimmy-T]

This is a grey area and the only people who can answer this is the insurer of the specific building.

However, I have been told that if there is illegal short-term letting going on and the EC has been aware of it and tried to stop it, then your insurance would probably still hold.

However, if there is rampant short-term letting in contravention of local planning zoning and by-laws, but the EC is accepting or even encouraging of it, it represents a change of use and therefore may invalidate the insurance.

It would certainly affect the home and contents insurance of individual apartments, according to this article in our sister magazine Title Online.

But the short answer is, it depends on the circumstances and the policy details, so ask the insurer.

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.

[Author]

Replies