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My money is on scary agendas. Anything that has the four Ps – pets, parking parties and puffing (OK, smoking) – would get the maximum turnout. How abouta motion to allow owners to leave pets in cars parked in visitor spots while they go to a party and have a smoke on the balcony? Too much?
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Have a look here for a roadmap on the two main ways of taking effective action via the CTTT. And go here if you want to take this out of the strata realm and into the local courts for a Noise Abatement Order.
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In my exhaustive (exhausting) survey of of the different voting requirements for different states something bubbled to the surface – a kind of distillation of lots of pretty bad ideas into one good one.
Here’s what I would do:
First, forget quorums. A quorum at a general meeting is those who turn up or send proxies.
However, all decisions made by the meeting (except the election of EC members) are “interim”.
The secretary then sends out a sheet listing the motions approved and owners have 14 days to register an objection.
If they get objections from fewer than 50 percent of owners in the case of ordinary resolutions or 25 percent of owners in the case of special resolutions, the Interim decision is approved.
This is based on several other states’ systems … which means it can’t become law here under the Interstate Hubris Act of 1866.
And to take ScotlandX’s point, a discount means very little in the long run and rewards bad behaviour. But what about a fine for not attending or sending a proxy, doubled each year they don’t turn up?
The hip pocket nerve is the most sensitive part of the body corporate.
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@andyj said:
Jimmy and others have mentioned that tenants that don’t obey by-laws can be evicted. I thought only an owner could have a tenant evicted.
I may have said that you can get tenants evicted, which is true, but only landlordscan make it happen (see Whale’s post below). The Owners Corp needs to put enough pressure on the landlords to pursue the eviction and, yes, there is a precedent (see THIS story).
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@Dudley said:
Should I question the need for a tax return given JimmyT and PeterC’s responses?
If you are not earning money form the sale or rent of common property. or from interest accrued on your admin and sinking funds, then you have no need to submit a tax return and you should certainly question why you are being charged for doing so.
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I have just read and tried to understand the Tax Commissioner’s statement attached to Peter C’s posting below (thanks, Pete).
The key to why some Owners Corps would not put money into interest earning accounts lies, I think, in the passage replicated here:
21. The practice of granting exemption from lodging returns where all the income derived by the body corporate is mutual in nature, i.e., consists solely of proprietors’ levies or contributions, will be continued. In cases where income is derived from non-mutual sources, i.e., interest and dividends from invested funds, fees from non-proprietors for access to books etc; a return is required to be furnished. It’s not the tax on the interest that’s the issue as much as the cost of preparing tax returns. If all the Owners Corp’s income is “mutual” – it’s only coming in to pay bills so it’s not really income – then the Owner’s Corp doesn’t have to prepare and submit a tax return.
If you start earning interest, then you do have to get your accountants to prepare a tax return. The question then is, does the amount you make in interest exceed the cost of preparing an annual tax return. I reckon that would be a line-ball decision, especially for smaller Owners Corps.
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OK, a couplre of points – the strata manager is not the final arbiter of howthis should be done … it’s the owners corporation that has the final say and once your fellow owners realise they are each going to be slugged $1500 every time they want to undertake a minor renovation, they may be more sympathetic.
The fact that your strata manager says they have prior experience of this suggests that they may have an existing by-law on their records that could be used for your purposes.
But individual by-laws for each item of work done in private lots is the least efficient way of doing this.
What you really want is a by-law that says all owners will take responsibility for all common property affected by renovations in their lot whether they get permission for it or not.
You want another by-law that outlines conditions for renovations – hours of work, noise limits etc etc – which also apply to all renovations.
Even if the Strata Manager can persuade the majority of owners that they need a lawyer-written by-law, it will save everybody money if you get one that applies to every future renovation. And, because the by-law is to everyone’s potential benefit, the owners Corp should pay for it.
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I believe some strata managers hold accounts in non-interest bearing accounts because in NSW at least the income form the interest is supposed to be added to the taxable income of the individual owners.
Apportioning the income so that it can be taxed correctly is often considered to be not worth the hassle either for the owners or for the Owners Corp. Unless the tax laws have changed recently, the same also applies to income from things like the sale or rent of common property.
I believe there is also a tax impost for unspent accumulated Sinking Funds – perhaps someone with a better tax brain than mine have could illuminate us.
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ccbaxter said:
Yesterday, as we both returned to our respective abodes at the same time, she gave me the bird in an aggressive fashion for no immediate reason … I would like to take some minor action to nip things in the bud such as write to the Strata Manager, the Chairman, the Secretary or something. I would appreciate any suggestion about what I might do.
This would come under unacceptable behaviour on common property and you could ask the EC to issue a Notice To Comply … but only if there were witnesses to back you up. Otherwise it’s just your word against hers.
You could raise a motion at the EC to the effect that residents are reminded that the by-laws forbid offensive behaviour on Common Property. Or you could confront her in front of witnesses and ask her what exactly the gesture meant as you have never seen it before.
Or you could let it go … fret over it and she has won.
With that in mind, I offer you the three pieces of wisdom by which I try to live these days.
1. Sit by the river long enough and the bodies of your enemies will float past.
2. If you go seeking revenge, remember to dig two graves.
3. Never do anything from short-term anger that will cause long-term pain.
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Just like to add that in smaller schemes, especially, the strata manager is often delegated to fulfill any or all of those roles (and charges accordingly).
But in the hierarchy of who’s the boss of whom, it’s Owners Corp (at a general meeting) at the top, then the EC, then the strata manager. The EC office bearers have only responsibilities – they do not have executive “rights” except for the secretary’s power to call meetings.
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It’s different way out West.
The salient points in this case are that the nominations for election to the committee have to be presented either in writing or orally at the AGM, so your developer wasn’t properly elected anyway unless there was a lketter of nomination or a verbal nomination at the last AGM.
Secondly, the “pre-nomination” by virtue of a by-law goes against the statutory requirements for the conduct of election, so it was probably incompetent in the first place.
When it comes to changing by-laws and removing members of the committee, you need a special resolution at a general meeting.
To hold the general meeting in the first place, you will need to have given 14 days notice of the meeting and what was to be discussed (and where and when) to all lot owners.
And, just when you think the Eastern states could not make strata law more complicated, our Western cousins have found a way. A special resolution in WA requires that at least 50 percent of lot owners are in favour (either by a vote in person or by proxy) and that no more than 25 percent of owners actually voting are against the motion. Best of luck when you start getting 200-lot schemes, 50 percent of which are owned by investors.
Thankfully, the strata laws and regulations of WA are laid out pretty concisely in THIS document.
But if the meeting was held under the terms laid out here, and the resoltion was passed by the approprite number of owners. the developer may be just whistling in the dark to get this overturned.
However, WA is near the start of a process of educating arbitrators and adjudicators, many of whom, judging by our experiences in the Eastern states, probably don’t ‘get’ strata law (or strata living in general). In that case, all you can do is keep your fingers crossed that you don’t get an adjudicator who decides that the laws is stupid and of course the developer should be entitled to certain privileges.
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@Austman said:
Since the work was been done without OC permission, wouldn’t inspection of the work or some documentation of the work quality be enough for the OC?That would seem like common sense but the problem arises if … well … a problem arises. Without a binding commitment to repairing the common property or any other part of the building that’s affected by this work (most likely water leaks or a failure of the tiles themselves) then the cost of repairs would ultimately fall back on the Owners Corp.
This is clearly unfair since they haven’t requested, authorised or in any way benefitted from this. Even so, if this owner sells the unit, the next owners can demand that the OC takes responsibility for the tiles.
The only way to transfer responsibility for common property in perpetuity is through a by-law. As others have suggested, it would be better to have a catch-all by-law in place so that this and any future unauthorised changes to common property become the responsibility of the the current and future owners of the lots concerned
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Matthew
You refer to the “State Administrative Tribunal” and “Council of Owners”. Where in Australia are you living?
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There is another avenue you might like to pursue. As the manager is clearly acting on behalf of the Owners Corp (NB, not the committee) they have to respond to complaints.
So what you need to to is send them a formal complaint about all the things you want done. Whether they respond or not, you are then able to follow the complaint to Consumer Affairs for mediation and then to The Victorian Civil and Administration Tribunal (VCAT) for a resolution.
You’ll find out more about that – with the required forms – HERE.
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