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@CBD3000 said:
I wonder if the building has had problems with short term tenants and has decided that this is a good way to ensure that only genuine owners and tenants with valid leases have access. Could be a good way to keep the likes of Airbnb out!Absolutely. It sounds like jliv has moved into a “problem building” that’s dealing with over-crowding and short-term lets as best they can, leading to an admittedly heavy-handed level of security.
I hate to say it but, if you don’t like your building or the way it’s run, there is a simple solution available to tenants but not so readily to resident owners: move out.
You might even be able to break your lease legally, by telling your landlords that the level of security and access is intrusive and you were not warned about this before you signed the lease. In short, you are entitled to a level of privacy that you are not being allowed to enjoy, which means your lease has been breached.
This link will take you to a fact sheet that provides form letters and links to the appropriate advice for complaining to Fair Trading.
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@pend1lis said:
Otherwise it appears to By-laws registered and drastically different from those that were voted on.Not sure what you intended to say there.
If the registered by-law differs from the by-law in the agenda for the general meeting, and there is no record of an amendment being agreed, then it should be challenged at NCAT where an adjudicator can rule a by-law invalid.
If a by-law hasn’t been registered within two years, it is not valid (see section 48 below). If it has been registered within that time, you have to go to NCAT to have it repealed.
48 What steps must an owners corporation take to make an amendment effective?
(1) An amendment or repeal of a by-law or, a new by-law, has no force or effect until:
(a) the owners corporation has lodged a notification, in the form approved under the Real Property Act 1900, in the Registrar-General’s office, and
(b) the Registrar-General has made an appropriate recording of the notification in the folio of the Register comprising the common property.
(2) A notification cannot be lodged in the Registrar-General’s office more than 2 years after the passing of the resolution for the amendment, repeal or new by-law.
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I think the problem here (which I missed the first time around) is that the strata manager IS the chair, if only by default. I am not sure of the mechanism for choosing a new chair on the hoof, so to speak, as suggested by Scottie. But if there are a majority of people at the meeting in favour, then it should be do-able.
As with most things in strata, it’s a question of getting the numbers sorted out before the meeting.
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The Executive committee chooses the chair so just make sure you have enough members on the EC who support your nominee.
By the way, the correct process is that the meeting decides how many members the EC should have (maximum 9) and then the EC holds a meeting after the AGM to elect office-bearers.
The strata manager can’t use proxies to elect him or herself on to the EC.
One person can fill all three roles – chair, secretary and treasurer – if that’s what the committee wants.
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I am compelled to offer you one of the four gems of philosophy by which I try to live my strata life: Never attribute to malice anything that can just as easily be ascribed to stupidity.
Your strata manager has a pothole in their invoicing procedures and you have fallen foul of it. A polite letter asking for a refund and a new system that is less likely to trip you up, should be enough (if you aren’t already at daggers drawn).
If you are, what do you really want? Your money back? To make a point? Or an easy life. One and three are achievable. No 2, less so, but you could say that you will be writing to other owners recommending that they find a new strata manager at the first possible opportunity.
That said, remember the five favourite words in legal circles: “It’s a matter of principle.”
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Unless I am mistaken, I think Whale is referring to the regulations listed on Page 12 of this document (although I’m sure he’ll correct me if i am wrong). This seems to be related more to building work near residential buildings rather than in them. The EPA’s pamphlet on neighbourhood noise has much less restrictive times for the use of power tools, etc.
However, those rules are primarily but not eclusively desighed for separate dwellings. That’s why you have by-laws and if you have a set that are anything like the standard by-laws, you have recourse via a number of routes.
The most obvious is your right to the peaceful enjoyment of your lot. If you can’t wait for the wheels of Fair Trading and NCAT to grind out their unpredictable verdicts (although you could go for an interim order at NCAT) you could probably go straight to your district court and get a noise abatement order.
However, this would be a very good opportunity for you to get a good set of by-laws in places that set times that work can be done, conditions for rubbish removal, work that MUST be done by a registered and insured professional, use of lifts etc etc and even a damage deposit.
The carrot to get the 75 percent vote is that everybody CAN renovate but they have to follow the rules. The stick is that, as your building ages, more people will want to do this and, as residents get annoyed, they will invoke actions at NCAT and Noise Abatement Orders to shut work down.
Passing a sensible by-law will save the Owners Corp and individual owners tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees – and give everyone back their weekends.
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@tharra said:
RTT = Residential Tenancies Tribunal?Yes, but Watchman said RRT. And the Residential Tenancy Tribunal is a South Australia thing, not NSW or Vic.
Maybe NSW Civil Administration Tribunal (NCAT)?
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Many buildings use the broker or strata manger to find more advantageous rates, often by having an excess or threshold built into the policy. Stick with the broker but get them to work for you.
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@Austman said:
If one of our residents did turn the power off to another resident (and I’d hope they never would) , could and would the police take any action or would they see it as a domestic civil matter and leave it to the OC to solve?Interesting that, as you pointed out, the Act refers to the “works” rather than the “supply”.
Given that the police won’t interfere on strata issues unless they are preventing or dealing with a crime, you’re probably not going to get arrested for tripping the kill switch on a noisy neighbour.
Cops deal with noisy parties because they are breaking the local council’s by-laws, not because they are breaching strata rules.
The son of a friend of mine is an electrician with a pass key to “every utilities room in NSW”. He has offered to come round and cut off parties provided he gets the call-out fee for switching them back on again.
Tempting …
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@Austman said:
If we had just renewed directly with that company it would have saved us quite a hefty sum.Errr… no you wouldn’t because the Insurers won’t pay you the commission or discount it from your premium.
Their view is that brokers and/or strata manager who take commissions do a lot of the legwork for them with regards to the policy sales and claims and it would cost them more to hire their own staff to fill the gap.
There was a move to make insurance commissions to strata managers illegal but that foundered when it was realised that a lot of (especially) smaller strata management firms depend on the commissions and would just go out of business.
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There’s none that I know of except that motions have to be on the agenda issued before the meeting
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You may be able to cut off this problem at source. Contact Airbnb and tell them that this family is in breach of their own policy – they have lied to Airbnb by ticking the box that says they have permission to list their flat.
Airbnb told me that they respond very quickly to complaints like that. Email them on response@airbnb.com and tell them you have been advise to do so by Jimmy Thomson at the Sydney Morning Herald.
If that doesn’t work (and I’m checking the email address with them right now), your options, given that you have tried everything else, are to talk to a strata lawyer about getting Supreme Court orders against this family.
The point is, it’s one thing paying NCAT fines. It’s another entirely flouting a court order – that’s a criminal offence and they could be arrested.
Or you could try one more time to hit them with everything you’ve got and let them know exactly what you plan to do.
Firstly, organise an executive committee meeting which should have the following items on the agenda:
1. To hire a specialist strata lawyer to pursue anyone in the building who is illegally letting their flats as holiday rentals.
2. If necessary, arrange for a general meeting to authorise legal action at the Supreme Court.
3. Hire a reputable private investigator (as recommended by the lawyer) to gather the evidence required to pursue the case at the NSW Civil Administration Tribunal, the Supreme Court and at council.
4. Send a letter to all residents telling them that you are planning to do this and to warn those who are breaching these laws and who refuse to stop doing so that they will a) be forced by law to stop doing so and b) charged costs related to proving they are breaking the law.
5. Send Notices To Comply to owners suspected of breaching the by-law relating to short-term lets.
6. Take action at the NSW Civil Administration Tribunal under section 119 for failure to provide details of leases or sub-leases which must, by law, be supplied within 14 days of a tenant taking occupation. Maximum fine $550.
7. Authorise members of the executive committee to talk to print media, television and radio to discuss the problems and the failure of the local council to act on complaints.
8. Get quotes for the installation of security cameras to cover car parking areas where cars have been vandalised and the common property areas, specifically those near units that have been illegally let.
Then make sure this family gets copies of the agenda and the decisions taken at the subsequent meeting. They may well ignore the threat, so be prepared to follow through … otherwise, I’d be looking to sell before they destroy the values of all the properties in your scheme.
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Why should you or your tenants be out of pocket?
Your issue is with your upstairs neighbour, not your tenants or even your owners corp.
Your upstairs neighbour should have home and contents insurance covering this incident. If not, they still have to pay (through a small claims court, if need be).
On the other hand, you should have landlord insurance (which is different from home and contents).
But, in short, your tenants should not have to pay any more or less than they would normally. But whoever caused the problem has to pay reasonable costs. Give your upstairs neignbour the hotel bill and suggest they contact their insurer.
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@watchman said:
Could I have pursued this issue through RRT or other means.What is RRT? No point in using initials if no one knows what they mean?
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