Forum Replies Created
-
Replies
-
The only way to avoid escalating it is for the secretary to block the emails (easily done on most email platforms) but that doesn’t mean the sender won’t ramp up their threats. If these are serious and persistent threats of violence or doing some other harm to the recipient, the secretary can go to the police and apply for an Apprehended Personal Violence Order (APVO) which can also apply to verbal threats and abuse. Check out this link for more details.
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.
There are three ways to approach this. The best may be to approach the strata committee with a plan that they can adopt. Provide them with a cost estimate and a compelling argument as to why they should install the racks at Owners Corp expense.
If that doesn’t fly, do the same at your next AGM and get the owners behind the project.
And if they just don’t want to pay, ask if you can do it at your own expense, offering to take responsibility via a by-law. But start with the first idea and gather as much information as you can about how many bikes there are in the building.
The arguments against are likely to include that the OC doesn’t want to be liable for stolen bikes. The response is that they put up a sign or pass a by-law saying bikes are left at the owners’ responsibility and should be insured against theft or damage.
The other one will come from fearmongering about electric battery fires. Again, just have a notice saying eBikes must not be charged on common property.
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.
It depends where you are.
In NSW there is legislation on the way to put building manager contracts on the same three-year limit as strata managers.
In Victoria they are thinking about doing something similar … some time … eventually … maybe.
And in Qld they’re talking about talking about it. But bear in mind that trade in caretaker contracts there runs to about $5bn a year, the official body for caretakers can get pretty feral when anyone says owners should have the right to choose who runs their buildings and the banks have a vested interest in keeping things exactly the way they are because they provide the loans so that caretakers can buy the contracts.
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.
There are a couple of problems with this. Firstly, changing common property to visitor parking is a change of use that requires council development approval. Strata by-laws can’t supersede superior laws like planning regulations and you could have this blocked by council.
Secondly, changes to common property require a special resolution unless they are for sustainability or accessibility improvements. Your OC might get away with a simple majority if they were creating a disabled space but that would have to be super-wide to qualify.
As a final thought, are any of the other owners using visitor parking for their own vehicles?
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.
I can feel the hate mail coming my way already but I am reliably informed that waterproofing roofs is the new embedded networks when it comes to scams, rip-offs and egregious over-servicing.
The myth propogated by some firms is that it is illegal to do a partial repair on a roof’s waterproofing and you have to do the whole area in one hit (very convenient for the contractor!).
However, I have spoken to some very senior people at the Building Commission who have told me this is BS and have heard from other buildings that as long as partial repairs don’t overlap then it is perfectly legal to patch waterproofing, as long as the patches are guranteed.
My own strata committee has been sucked in by this nonsense and, of course, since they are never wrong about anything, we are headed for a bill almost double yours and rising with every estimate.
My advice would be to contact the Owners Corporation Network (OCN.org.au) to see where they sit on this. And contact some other contractors and ask them a simple question first – “do you patch waterproofing on apartment block roofs” and if they say no, move on to the next one on the list.
By the way, there may be circumstances where a whole-roof re-waterproofing is the only solution. But it doesn’t apply to every situation and the excuse that they can’t get insurance has alarm bells ringing for me.
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.
If the issue is creaking beams, then it really should be investigated. We used to own in an old building in Bondi where an owners downstairs complained about a sagging floor. It turned out the corner of the building was only being held up by an arco-prop because of subsidence caused by the run-off from a blocked downpipe from the building next door.
Yes, buildings get creaky as they get old – they also get creaky before they collapse. You might need new floors and that’s an OC reponsibility, at least to investigate.
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.
Hmm. A typical and all-too-common passing of the buck there and it won’t wash if you don’t want it to. The Owners Corporation has a statutory responsibility to maintain and repair common property and the owner (but not the tenant) has the right to seek orders compelling them to do that.
Or, look at this the other way, the owner has the responsibility to the tenant to provide “reasonable security” whaich means they should be taking the necessary action to compel the OC to fulfil its duties, if need be by taking action at Fair Trading and NCAT.
The standard residential tenancy agreement says this:
LOCKS AND SECURITY DEVICES
32. The landlord agrees: 32.1 to provide and maintain locks or other security devices necessary to keep the residential premises reasonably secure.
Section 106 of the strata schemes management Act says this:
106 Duty of owners corporation to maintain and repair property(1) An owners corporation for a strata scheme must properly maintain and keep in a state of good and serviceable repair the common property and any personal property vested in the owners corporation.
(2) An owners corporation must renew or replace any fixtures or fittings comprised in the common property and any personal property vested in the owners corporation.
So your owner should be hassling the OC to fix the lock and they have the power to ask the Tribunal (NCAT) to issue orders compelling them to do so. The owner should at the very least be seeking mediation as a first step to seeking orders under section 106.If they don’t then they have breached the conditions of your lease and you are entitled to ask for a rent reduction. You might also tell other tenants in the building that they can ask for rent reductions too.Your rental agent has zero interest in asking the landlord to do anything except take your rent so you have to give them a form of encouragement, perhaps by telling them that if there is no sign of the landlord insisting that the lock be fixed, you will want a rent reduction and you are prepared to go to Fair Trading to get one, if need be.I would lay odds that your landlord isn’t even aware of this issue, so proceed politely and civilly, at least to begin with. And have a look at this page on the Tenants Union website which doesn’t refer directly to strata but the principles are the same.And when the rental agent says the problem is the Owners Corp, you can say no, the problem is the lock and that’s the landlord’s problem. If the landlord has a problem with the OC, it has nothing to do with you.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.
Cue “My Pink Half of the Drainpipe“
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.
There is a persistent myth in strata that the scheme is not liable for events not covered by strata insurance. Owners have to look at this another way; they have chosen a policy, probably cheaper, with defined coverage. Which mean that they are only covered for their statutory liabilities and up to the amount the policy allows. If the claims are greater than the agreed benefits, and the injured party successfully sues for damages, then the scheme has to find that money from its existing funds or additional levies.
This is a case you might take to a medical claims specialist lawyer or, preferably, reach an amicable agreement with the owners corporation and save both sides legal costs. So yes, you would have to initiate a separate action against the scheme if you thought you had been unreasonably inadequately compensated.
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.
Do you mean at an AGM or Committee Meeting it was decided to pay more for the service?
This is a perfect example of where it would be good for the OP to be able to respond directly. Is it too much to ask Flatchatters to register and log in? Perhaps.
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.
As we have all agreed to the new wall colour do we have the right to change the colour of our garage doors and guttering? Note that all the garages are undercover and only one garage door of our strata is seen by any visitors as each individual apartment has their own pedestrian entrance way.
I would be tempted to repaint your doors how you want and let chummy nexy door look like the goose he is. But be prepared for him not to pay his share because the paint job wasn’t to his taste.
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.
The strata plan has a note saying “No part of the building shall be common property other than common service lines”. I Googled part of that exact phrase in the hope I might find examples of other similar schemes, but about all I got was an un-requested AI opinion that ‘In NSW, the premise that “no part of the building shall be common property” is incorrect’.
AI can be notoriously unreliable when it comes to strata issues. It often scrapes the media for references from all over Australia, assuming we have the same strata laws in every state – which we most definitely don’t.
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.
does anybody have a pointer to some information?
This sounds very much like Community Title which operates like strata… up to apoint Here’s a guide from a legal firm:
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.
The details of the functions conferred on the strata manager will be in their contract and can be pretty wide-ranging.
This is what the Act says:
29 Owners corporation to appoint strata committee(1) An owners corporation must appoint a strata committee of the owners corporation in accordance with this Act.
(4) If there is no strata committee of an owners corporation, the strata scheme must be administered by the owners corporation, but nothing in this subsection prevents a strata managing agent appointed under this Act from exercising any functions conferred on the agent.
52 Owners corporation may delegate functions to strata managing agent(1) An owners corporation may, by the instrument appointing a strata managing agent or some other instrument, delegate to the strata managing agent—
(a) all of its functions, or
(b) any one or more of its functions specified in the instrument, or
(c) all of its functions except those specified in the instrument.
(2) An owners corporation must not delegate to a strata managing agent its power to make—
(a) a delegation under this section, or
(b) a decision on a matter that is required to be decided by the owners corporation, or
(c) a determination relating to the levying or payment of contributions.
(3) A delegation may be made subject to the conditions or limitations as to the exercise of all or any of the functions, or as to time or circumstances, that may be specified in the instrument of delegation.
(4) An owners corporation may delegate the functions only if authorised to do so by a resolution at a general meeting.
(5) An owners corporation may, if authorised to do so by a resolution at a general meeting, revoke or vary a delegation under this section.
53 Exercise of delegated functions by strata managing agent(1) A function delegated under this Division may, while the delegation remains unrevoked, be exercised from time to time in accordance with the delegation.
(2) Despite any delegation made under this Division, the owners corporation may continue to exercise all or any of the functions delegated.
(3) Any act or thing done or suffered by a strata managing agent while acting in the exercise of a delegation under this Division—
(a) has the same effect as if it had been done or suffered by the owners corporation, and
(b) is taken to have been done or suffered by the owners corporation.
54 Functions of officers and strata committee may be given to strata managing agent(1) The instrument of appointment of a strata managing agent may provide that the strata managing agent has and may exercise all the functions of the chairperson, secretary, treasurer or strata committee of an owners corporation or the functions of those officers or the strata committee specified in the instrument.
(2) However, the chairperson, secretary, treasurer and strata committee of an owners corporation may continue to exercise all or any of the functions that the strata managing agent is authorised to exercise.
(3) Any act or thing done or suffered by a strata managing agent in the exercise of any function of the chairperson, secretary, treasurer or strata committee conferred on the strata managing agent in accordance with this section—
(a) has the same effect as if it had been done or suffered by the chairperson, secretary, treasurer or strata committee, and
(b) is taken to have been done or suffered by the chairperson, secretary, treasurer or strata committee.
It’s odd that the Act says there must be a committee, then tells us what the strata manager can do if there isn’t one.
But the crux of the problem is this: Is the strata manager making decision that are benefitting only some owners in a real way, or harming ths strata scheme in a real way. By that, I mean are you unhappy because you don’t agree with the decisions, or are they doing physical or financial harm to the scheme. If it’s the former, all you can do is try to persuade a majority of owners to support your view. If it’s the latter, and you can prove it, then you can go straight to the Tribunal (no mediation required) and ask for the appointment of a strata manager to run the scheme.
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.