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You can raise the validity of a vote with the chair before or during a meeting – and every General meeting should be prefaced by a register of whpo is thereand entitled to vote, including any proxies they may hold.
Off the top of my head, you have 28 days to challenge the validity of a vote via NCAT but even then you would have to show that the outcome of the vote would have been different if correct procedures had been followed.
In short, you could have a meeting that failed to meet any of the basic criteria for conduct of a general meeting but if the outcome of the votes would not have been altered had all the conditions been met, then a challenge would probably fail.
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This is nonsense. The Owners Corp (and therefore the Strata Manager) has to keep an up-to-date roll of lot owners. As an owner and member of the OC, you are entitled to see all documents, including the strata roll and addresses on it (but not email addresses unless prior permission has been given). This will cost about $30 plus any photocopying charges.
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If the unit has been open for inspection, you have as much right to see what’s going on there as anyone else and report back accordingly.
Meanwhile your strata manager is being unnecessarily overcautious. The EC should ask them to send a letter to the vendor’s estate agent and to their solicitor and conveyancer, with a copy added to the scheme’s records, that they believe there have been unauthorised renovations and additions to common property (without specifying what they are) and that if this proves to be the case, they should either be removed or responsibility for them will pass to the new owner.
If the vendor objects, then you should ask if you can have a site inspection to verify that there have been no unauthorised renovations after which you will withdraw the letter immediately.
Your strata manager needs to be more proactive – if she’s not prepared to do this, your next task should be to find someone who is prepared to do their job. her lack of action will cost your owners corp in the long run.
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You need to write to all owners explaining the situation and how this is damaging the value of their property as well as costing them money they don’t need to spend. You should also include a proxy form (which your strata manager will supply) so that you can get their votes at the EGM.
Having said that, do not overstate your case and make it personal. Keep it businesslike and professional. E.g, he owner wanted his friend to be paid $5000 for gardening and this was rejected.
Tell them the owner’s tenant has since then been damaging the garden and other common property and the landlord is blocking attempts to issue Notices To Comply to deal with the issue.
Explain that if this is not dealt with at the EGM, the scheme faces long and expensive legal battles just to make sure the scheme is run properly (as it has been in the past).
Stress that this is a very important issue for the future well-being of the scheme and your property values and their attendance at the meeting – or, at the very least, their proxy votes are required.
If you can, follow up with cahtas and phone calls to the other owners – but again, avoid making it too personal.
Finally, when it comes to the EGM, keep a close eye on whether the troublemaking owner and his cronies have paid their levies. If they are in arrears, they can’t vote (and you’d be surprised how many troublemakers in buildings think they can hurt the EC by not paying their levies). If they are in arrears, the payment has to be in the bank the day before the meeting. Writing a cheque at the meeting isn’t acceptable as it could be (and often is) cancelled if the vote doesn’t go their way. Some strata managers won’t even accept cash as the levies have to be in the owners corp accounts to clear the debt. Obviously, you would keep quiet about this until the meeting – it’s a tactic to keep in your back pocket.
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@AJP said:
Isn’t ‘the spouse of an owner’ also an owner? An owner can vote on an item they have put on the agenda.
It’s not as simple as that and a lot depends on how they managed to get themselves nominated to the committee.
The co-owner of a unit has to be nominated for the EC by someone who is another owner who is not standing for election themselves. Self nomination and cross-nomination of co-owners is not allowed.
This is what the Act says:
A person who is co-owner of a lot may not be a candidate for election as a member of the executive committee unless the person is nominated for office:
(a) by an owner who is not a co-owner of the lot, or
(b) by a co-owner of the lot who is not a candidate for election as a member.
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@mini said:
I don’t mean any disrespect to those in this thread in saying this, but it is kind of surprising that everyone in this thread disagrees with my view, yet they cannot cite a single case to prove their assertions correct …
I’d just like to make a general comment here. There are issues that are covered by strata law, others that are covered by other laws and some, that slip through the net, that are covered by common law. It is hard enough to keep track of what’s right and wrong, fair and unfair, in issues that ARE covered by strata law without going off looking for other cases that come under other laws in other circumstances.
The reason people may not be able to cite other cases to prove you wrong could be a simple as no one has challenged at the CTTT, NCAT or in court that the owner of a property is responsible for the damage that a failure of that property inflicts on other owners or, indeed, common property. There is a good reason for that – it’s in the Act and it’s common sense.
This forum is intended to be for people to share ideas and answer each other’s questions in a reasonable, sensible and helpful manner. It’s not here so examine every “what if” that might arise but I’m sure there are other websites around that would welcome any interaction with readers of a quasi-legal bent.
And with that, this issue really is closed.
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I think this one has run it’s course. But let’s make something clear, whatever other cases in other places may say, the Owners Corp has a duty to maintain and repair common property and the right to enter private property to investigate whether repairs are required. That can be done with the permission of the owner or, failing that, by seeking an order from NCAT
In relation to this particular issue, I believe if the Owners Corp investigates a leak in your property that’s affecting common property and other lots, and discovers it’s caused by your property, then you have to pay because your property has caused the problem. If they investigate a leak that turns out not to be coming from your property, then the OC has to pay.
And on that note, this discussion is closed.
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@McVities said:
I also wanted to find out – clearly 2mm of insulation is clearly insufficient underneath floorboards – what would normally be considered adequate? Is there any clear guidelines about this? (I will push for carpet and underlay, but I want to ensure that I have all the information.)Our by-laws specify at least 11mm of quality insulation but I’m not really in favour of being that prescriptive since another imponderable is the thickness, density and sound transmission qualities of the actual slab.
If I were drafting a by-law, it would say that any changes to the flooring should not permit any increased transmission of noise (but I would then attach a guide to how that could be achieved in an average unit in that building).
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@SamG said:
I may be wrong but the Department of Fair Trading has deemed any damage to common property made by either owners or tenants as being the responsibility of the owners corporation to repair. Unless the damage was deliberate, they deem this as normal wear and tear. An example of this is the marking of the walls in the stairwell after a tenant moves in.Never heard of this one. If you damage anyone’s property – including commono property – then you are liable for repairs. Otherwise people would feel free to smash up common property with impunity.
The above would only apply if there was no way of proving who was responsible, in which case the Owners Corp’s legal duty to maintain and repair common property would kick in.
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Your upstairs neighbours are in clear violation of your scheme’s by-laws. You are right to want to talk to a specialist strata lawyer about this as your neighbours seem happy to dissemble and obfuscate to keep their precious floor boards. Judging by others’ experiences, this will probably get nastier before it is resolved so hang in there and remember these points:
1. They are in the wrong, not you.
2. They have lied and will probably do so again to collect as much evidence as you can.
3. They have enhanced the value of their property at the expense of yours.
4. If they have to rip up the floorboards or relay carpet and insulation, it’s their fault, not yours.
5. A Tribunal will probably only order them to fix the problem – it may not instruct them on how to do that. However, the fact remains that there is no better insulation than carpet on top of quality underlay, so be prepared for a couple of visits to NCAT before the idiots upstairs finally get the message.
6. Don’t be afraid to explain to them that they can do this the easy way – fix it properly now – or the hard way: spend thousands of dollars on lawyers and end up having to fix it properly anyway. Either way, they should start planning on how they are going to remedy a problem they have caused.
THE CTTT used to be notoriously lax on the floorboards issue, with Members who had apparently never set foot in an apartment – let alone lived in one – blithely ruling that noise was a part of apartment living. You don’t hear that so much these days. Your scheme has a very good by-law that has been breached and that is all that they should be interested in.
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@kiwipaul said:
Action against the SM is a waste of time as they are employed by the Strata and have no powers to make decisions without the approval of the strata, same apples to the Strata Company.
While you a re right about the strtata manager, the “Strata Company” is the name given in WA to the Owners Corporation or Body Corporate, so you are arguing against yourself.
THIS (click here) excellent factsheet published by Ace Strata Management says: If the dispute is over a by-law, the Strata Company can issue a written notice to the recalcitrant tenant/owner. If the notice is not action[ed], the Strata Company may them impose fines through the state-based tribunal, Office of Fair Trading or consumer affairs bureau.
It goes on to describe how you can take action against an owner and/or the Strata Company at the State Legislative Tribunal for failure to abide by by-laws.
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@Austman said:
I thought about a Noise Abatement Order but couldn’t find too much information about it that related to Victoria. Is it just for NSW?
Have a look here and HERE. The latter, a factsheet about noise in Victoria from the Law Handbook says this:
If a noise problem amounts to a nuisance within the terms of this Act, residents should lodge a complaint with the council. A council must investigate the complaint and either take action itself or, if it believes that the matter is best settled privately, inform the resident of any methods of settling the matter privately.
If the council is satisfied that a nuisance exists, section 197 of the PHWA (Public Health Welfare Act) requires it to serve an abatement notice on the person causing the nuisance. This notice identifies the nuisance and requires that steps be taken by the person causing the notice to stop the nuisance from occurring. If the notice is not complied with, the council may seek court orders to direct the responsible person to comply with the notice or otherwise take such measures as specified in the order. The court may also order the person causing the nuisance to pay costs of the council in taking court action, and impose a penalty for non-compliance with the notice. Non-compliance with the court order will attract a further penalty.
A complainant (person making a complaint about the noise) who believes that the council has failed to investigate the nuisance within “a reasonable time” may use section 63 and approach the Magistrates’ Court directly. If the court is satisfied that the complaint is reasonable it can order the council to pay any costs or expenses incurred by the complainant.
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this web page, run by West Australia Legal Aid has a stack of links to the relevant legislation and information.
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