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It is going to cost a LOT more than $10,000 per unit. The apartment block has to be surveyed, legal papers drafted and meetings held and resolutions voted upon.
Surely that would depend on the number of units in the building, no?
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I presume if I go to NCAT it will be argued it was approved by the majority and the committee are not allowed to go against the wishes of the majority.
In short, strata law supersedes the majority vote and there is a little-used section of NSW Strata Law (S232[2]) that can, theoretically, get NCAT to compel OCs to enforce their by-laws.
How useful this is, is debatable as the Tribunal seems to have a lot of discretion over how far they go on this and other matters of strata law.
I would say, it would come down to the seriousness or other wise of the leeway that other owners asr given in breaching by-laws and the selectivity of applying that leeway.
For instance, if a privileged group is allowed to breach by-laws in a way that seriously affects the peaceful enjoyment by other residents of their homes – eg wild parties all weekend, every weekend – you might have a case. Or if a select few have been allowed to annex common property and absorb it into their lots, that could form the basis of a case too.
But if it was something like parking a stroller or bike under a stairway, against the use of common property rules but where it’s not in anyone’s way, then your case might be thrown out.
However, if you consider the accumulated benefits for a limited number of people add up to something significant, you could apply for mediation at Fair Trading which would at least put them on notice – and make you very unpopular with the chosen few.
Or you could propose a motion to your next AGM that the strata committee identifies which by-laws it is not prepared to enforce and amends them accordingly. Your accompanying notes would then give you an opportunity to at least list the various breaches that have been allowed to go through to the keeper.
And don’t worry too much about defamation – as long as you aren’t deliberately dishonest and personally abusive, it has been well established that there is a lot of leeway in the cut and thrust of strata scheme discourse.
Section 232 Orders to settle disputes or rectify complaints
(2) Failure to exercise a function
For the purposes of this section, an owners corporation, strata committee or building management committee is taken not to have exercised a function if—
(a) it decides not to exercise the function, or
(b) application is made to it to exercise the function and it fails for 2 months after the making of the application to exercise the function in accordance with the application or to inform the applicant that it has decided not to exercise the function in accordance with the application.
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Does this Motion need to be resolved first, and THEN another EGM is needed to be held to hold the election, or can the “Motion to hold the election AND the actual election be held all in one meeting?
I may be wrong but I believe that if you call for nominations for the committee in the original email then you can do it in one shot.
The motion process would be
- Propose a new election,
- Call for nominations
- Conduct election.
Can’t see any problem with that but others may disagree.
Jimmy
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And you can’t charge the owner for the OC to perform a function of the OC. Well; you can and if the owner is silly enough to pay it then their bad.
What happens if the Committee refuses to pay and the owners declines to do so too? No by-law, no progress, no permission to get work done. Most people would just pay, wouldn’t they? And why should other owners pay a cent for something that only benefits one owner?
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I have cleaned out the email folder so you can post away to your heart’s content. Thanks for the heads-up. Sadly though there is no PM evident so please repost here. Thanks.
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In NSW, a by-law requires approval by 75 per cent of the unit entitlements of owners voting in person, by proxy or by other valid means. NB: Not all owners – just those voting.
Your agenda should note which motions will require a special resolution, and special resolutions must be calculated by unit entitlements.
By the way, any owner can ask for any motion to be calculated by a “poll” vote (unit entitlements), during the discussion or immediately after a show of hands.
Other states have different methods of calculating special resolutions and different criteria for passing by-laws..
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As we say in this week’s podcast, if some of the dodgier strata managers applied as much energy and ingenuity to their job as they do to finding ways to squeeze more money out of their clients, a lot of apartment owners would be a lot happier.
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How is this possible – it is rewarding lies.
The people who viewed the document could have made a fuss but the issue was so personally toxic and the participants so belligerent, it wasn’t worth making a fuss. There was a relatively minor payout involved. Small war, not many dead. There are no StrataKops.
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Was the special levy a bluff?
Wouldn’t be the first time a spurious threat of a special levy has been used to deter owners from taking legal action.
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I would say probably not. Property insurances like landlord insurance generally cover the consequences of events rather than defects.
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Can an AGM decide that there will no longer be allowed parking on common property?
The key phrase is “except with the consent in writing” – which suggests the Board, as instructed by the owners at your AGM, could rescind the permission, unless that permission has previously been granted in perpetuity or as a permanent part of the management contracts.
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Should the specific details (eg, commissions, agent discounts etc) form part of the strata records and therefore be available for inspection during a records search?
That’s actually two questions;
- All documents relating to the business of your strata scheme should be made available for inspection on request by an owner. There is a process for that set down in the Act but it often requires a visit to the strata manager’s office and the payment of a set fee.
- Should the details of contracts etc be presented as part of the annual report? Yes, but only if the majority of owners want that. Every scheme has its own idea of how much information they want to be made available – it could be a line item in your financials, a summary or a copy of any new contracts.
The way to get more information presented as part of the AGM agenda is to present a motion at your next strata committee or general meeting, specifying what information you want to have provided.
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Are they in fact saying that if THEY pay YOUR bills with their credit card, they get the points?
Which is fine, unless they are paying higher transaction fees (as with Amex) which means your scheme is paying more than it should to fill their frequent flyer coffers.
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