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As a member of the EC you are part of 'The strata” as you call it. The Strata Manager can only act as instructed by the Owners Corp or the Executive Committee (of which you are part) although they could have offered some advice on this.
You need to put a motion to the EC asking them to
a) Investigate the cause of the flooding and remedy it immediately.
b) If the building is less than six years old, pursue to the developer for the cost of the defect rectification.
The Owners Corp has an absolute and unlimited legal obligation to maintain and repair common property. Other issues like lack of funds and ongoing disputes with builders and developers are irrelevant – the Owners Corp just needs to get on with it as they are legally obliged to do.
If there's any resistance, your next move should be to apply for mediation at Fair Trading, this is a required first step before taking the Owners Corp to the CTTT. Don't worry, EC members are taking action against their own ECs all the time – it's just part of strata living and is often the best way to establish who is responsible for what. You'll get the mediation form HERE.
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Yu need to crack down on the HARD and as soon as possible.
Put a a note on their cars explaining that by parking in Visitors parking or on grass verges they are:
a) in breach of the buildings by laws and that will lead to fines of up to $550 and
b) by being in breach of by-laws they are also in breach of their lease which could lead to eviction.
They are not free from by-laws because they are tenants – in fact they are even more at risk because they could lose their home.
I wouldn’t mention the occasional use by other residents – that too is a breach of by-laws and could come back to bite you on the bum if this went to a tribunal.
A copy of the same notice from your strata manager or EC secretary should be delivered to their mailbox and to the rental agent for the property. And you need to have an EC meeting as soon as possible to agree to issuing a Notice To Comply, the first step in having them fined by the CTTT.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.
Yep. Lawyers are a popular choice for this kind of work as they bith know what they’re talking about and tend to get listened to. Might be an idea to get two or three people to chip in to help pay for them, though.
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Welcome to the Flat Chat community – be warned it can be addictive!
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OK, but who is going to charge an EC member acting in good faith who makes a slight mistake? We are talking about EC member and managers who are told there is a serious risk – and these infringements are graded in terms of their seriousness – who then choose to ignore that advice because they want to save a few pennies on their levies. It’s about accepting collective responsibility – and if EC members aren’t prepared to accept some responsibility for their decisions then they really would be better off not standing for election.
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That's the way to do it. There's no obligation on the EC or Owners Corp to approve changes to Common Property that only benefit one person. They have to take rsponsibility for ALL costs associated with this as well as ongoing repairs and maintenance. And beware the “nod and a wink” approval – if it's not formalised as a special resolution, responsibility for repairs and maintenance will fall back on the Owners Corp if and when the unit is sold.
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If you have a general meeting in two months anyway, work towards that. And rather than sacking exisiting members what you do is
a) establish how many members you want on the EC (this is a vote you have to take before any EC election)
b) make sure you have enough nominees to fill all the seats
c) campaign strongly for your 'ticket' to be elected.
That way you don't have to run negative campaigns which is healthier for your community.
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The permission wil require a special resolution by-law and you can make it a condition of that that the skylight installers agree to pay for maintenance and repairs of the skylights in perpetuity. You can also get them to pay for the creation of the by-law. If they don’t agree then you don’t allow the skylight. That’s a perfectly reasonable and common response to this kid of request.
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You have to get 25 percent of owners to agree to holding an Extraordinary General Meeting with a motion declaring any or all of the seats vacant.
Then you have to get 75 percent of votes at the meeting to agree to a special resolution and, if need be, holding a new election for the EC.
Obviously, you need to be sure of the numbers before you make a move.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.
Normally the membrane would be the responsibility of the Owners Corp but if it has been damaged by the installation of boards, then the person who installed tem and damaged the membrane is responsible.
And before the frenzy of finger-pointing starts, the chain of responsibility has not alteres. The OC needs to attend to the fixing of the common property memberane, than they need to send the bill for repairs to the owner who damaged it.
What should not happen is the OC ordering the owner to fix it and then not being able to get it done because they refuse saying it's not their fault.
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Biologynerd said:
I have a few questions:
1) Is it unusual that so far (6 months in) we have heard nothing official from the owners’ corporation about meetings and so on?It’s not all that unusual – some buildings hand over most of their day-to-day running to their Strata Managers or just don’t have Executive Committee meetings that often. What would be unusual would be if they were having EC meetings but not telling anyone. Write to the secretary or strata manager and ask when the next EC meeting is as you’d like to attend (which you are entitled to do).
2) Is it our best option to just write a letter to the owner’s corporation requesting permission to get a pet? Many people have suggested we need to say what type of dog, it’s size, age, behaviour etc – given that we are asking permission to GET this dog, obviously we don’t have it yet, so do we just describe the dog we are hoping to get??
You have to write to the EC to get the permission under the by-laws. When you’re choosing your dog, do some research into what’s the best size and breed. For instance Jack Russells can be very noisy as they will defend your home which means barking at every person who walks past your door. Bichon Frisse are small and cute but they can be annoying because they are neurotic and bark all day. Some breeds are just too aggressive to be allowed in any kind of community living. Others may need more exercise than you have time to provide.
THIS website has some very good advice and suggestions of suitable breeds,you could also look at THIS one for a lot of suggestions, and THIS one has some good comments from dog owners. Once you have chosen your breed, make the reason you chose the dog – quiet, friendly small … whatever – part of your application. Remember, there are other by-laws relating to noise, nuisance and health concerns that could see a badly behaved dog evicted … so choose carefully. Also bear in mind how active and noisy your neighbours are – is you have lift lobby chatters next door, don’t get a dog that’s going to growl and bark at them.
3) Given that the neighbour we spoke to told us that one of the executive committee is totally against dogs, and will likely refuse our request, where would that leave us?
That’s just one vote. But make it as easy as possible for all the other members to say yes.
Who is to say whether his refusal is ‘reasonable’?
Well, one person can’t decide – it’s the committee. Also the definition of ‘unreasonable’ is critical. If they refuse, then you can ask them to provide you with the criteria that they used when making the decision. If they don’t have a valid or logical reason for refusing the dog, they are breaching the by-law. If they don’t have criteria, then how can they make a reasonable decision. If they don’t give you an answer, then that is withholding permission – just choose the right breed and you’ll be fine.
Is this something we could fight, or would this be a final answer with no recourse?
Sure you can fight it – on the grounds stated above. The by-laws say permission can’t be unreasonably refused … that allows you a lot of leeway. If you’ve done your homework and chosen a quiet, well-behaved breed, they have no reason to refuse. But the way to fight it may be to force their hand by getting the dog (see below).
Could we then take the issue to the AGM? Which brings us back to the question of how to have some say when the AGM does come around.
The AGM is the one meeting a year where everybody gets to have a say – and the AGM supersedes Executive Committee decisions so yes, by all means … if it comes to that.
we are trying to go about it the right way (i.e. ignoring the advice of friends to just get the puppy and then ignore any angry letters etc…!)!
Do your homework, write a letter asking permission and saying the breed you have chosen and why, wait a reasonable time for a response (five weeks) if you hear nothing, get the dog and let them come after you. But don’t ignore the angry letters – tell them to issue you with a Notice To Comply and you will happily go with them to mediation and adjudication because you are in the right.
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You basically have 28 days to object to anything that appears on the agenda as a result of the call-out on the grounds that you weren't given enough advanced notice (see below).
You're lucky – our EC just issues the agenda, there's huffing and puffing if anyone (actually, it's just me) wants to discuss anything and our AGM into a 'show and tell' where we a presented with a eries of motions to approve and the most important issue is finishing 'on time'. It's a pretty poor show for the one meeting a year where all owners get a chance to discuss anything that's bothering them.
But back to you: A polite note telling your EC they're on the right track – they don't have to invite motions or items for discussion – but if the call-out went out a week before the agenda it would be even better.
Here's the relevant section of the Act:
154 Order where voting rights denied or due notice of item of business not given
(1) An Adjudicator may order that a resolution passed at a general meeting of an owners corporation be treated as a nullity on and from the date of the order if satisfied that the resolution would not have been passed but for the fact that the applicant for the order:
(a) was improperly denied a vote on the motion for the resolution, or
(b) was not given due notice of the item of business in relation to which the resolution was passed.
(2) An application for an order under this section may not be made after 28 days after the date of the meeting at which the resolution was passed.
(3) If an order under this section is made in relation to a resolution making a by-law or amending or repealing another by-law and the order has been recorded as provided by section 209, the by-laws have force and effect on and from the date the order is so recorded to the same extent as they would have had if the resolution had not been passed.
(4) Subsection (3) is subject to the by-laws having been or being amended or repealed in accordance with this Act and to any relevant order made by a superior court.
(5) An application for an order under this section may be made only by a person entitled to vote on the motion for the resolution concerned.
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