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This was actually originally posted by Poppii.
We are experiencing hell with a self-managed strata of 3 townhouses. The person who controls our strata wants to bring up our tenants breaching by-laws at the upcoming AGM. She is giving our lovely tenants hell on a regular basis and refusing to fix repairs in our townhouse due to her personal feelings.
However, we pay for a property manager (so we don’t have to deal with the devil herself). Am I able to direct these complaints to our Property Manager and tell her we will not discuss these at the AGM? Can she legally just use our AGM as a whingingfest?
Please please help.
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Unless the decision was “sealed” you and any other owner is entitled to see it as it is a document held by the OC. Even if it was “sealed” you would probably be entitled to see it but not copy it. So, yes, the agent is hiding behind the privacy ploy.
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If this by-law is being prepared solely so that one owner can renovate their apartment, then they should carry all the related costs. However, it sounds like you need a by-law that would also cover future renovations so perhaps the costs might be shared.
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The Strata Committee needs to send him a letter immediately inviting him to formalise postdated permission in the form of a by-law accepting responsibility for the renovations, or to reinstate common property to its previous state. This letter will go on the record and turn up in a strata search. It should also be sent to his real estate agent so they can’t deny they knew about this. Once it’s on the record, the vendor will have to do something or they will find it very difficult to sell the property.
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The various Acts say the records of electronic voting must be retained and mad available to owners on request.
From the Regulations (sl-2016-501 (nsw.gov.au)_
41 Electronic voting records
(1)For the purposes of section 180 (1) (j) of the Act, records relating to electronic voting
for motions for resolutions by an owners corporation must be retained by an owners
corporation.
(2)For the purposes of section 180 (2) of the Act, the period for which an owners
corporation is required to retain voting papers under section 180 (1) (g) of the Act or
records referred to in subclause (1) is 13 months, if the voting papers or records relate
to secret ballots, unless the papers relate to the appointment of a strata renewal
committee or other decisions in connection with Part 10 of the Strata Schemes
Development Act 2015.
42 Inspection of records
For the purposes of section 182 (3) (k) of the Act, the owners corporation must make
available for inspection the accounting records and other records relating to the strata
scheme that are kept by the strata managing agent.You’ll find the relevant sections of the Act here: https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-2015-050#pt.10-div.2
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Just as an observation, increasing the insurance premiums because there are Airbnbs in the block makes perfect sense. Wear and tear and damage is likely to increase and with a turnover of strangers so is the likelihood of accidents and personal injury. Can anyone name an insurer who does this? The floor is open on this one.
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Assuming NSW, if two committee members nominate for one office, then all the committee members vote. NB: This vote is only among committee members – not all owners.
Holding the first committee meeting after the election of the committee is pretty standard practice and doesn’t make too much difference because anything that isn’t on the agenda shouldn’t be voted on. It’s a matter of convenience, usually, because everyone is in the same place anyway.
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This is the big, gaping hole in the state government’s efforts to convince home-seekers that apartment living is a good choice; slack strata managers who find ways around the regulations to make it easier to milk funds from apartment owners are allowed to get away with it.
Does the government think prospective apartment buyers don’t talk to people who already own them?
I feel sorry for the people who have been saddled with these shonks as well as the strata managers who are trying to do the right thing.
The Strata Commissioner is a decent bloke but his office is grossly underfunded and he is way too easily influenced by the NSW branch of Strata Community Australia (SCA-NSW) who have been way too busy developing their “vertical integration” – a posh term for creating cartels – to look after their clients … you and me.
David Chandler has found a way of exposing the shonks and charlatans in the building industry. It’s time Strata Commissioner John Minns was given the backing to do the same with strata managers.
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By way of explanation, TimSP had started a thread on paper AGMs then started a new one on being able to view the voting papers. That’s all been fixed now.
However, as a general note to all Flatchatters, we try to discourage users from multiple posts on what is essentially the same topic (when I say “discourage” I mean “ban”). The reasons for this are:
- Filling up the Forum with essentially the same issue in multiple threads is a bit rude. “Look at me, look at me” doesn’t work here.
- More importantly, you can’t have a logical discussion if several people are making different points in response to different posts about the same topic.
However, there are times when a different aspect of the same topic deserves a thread of its own. How do you tell? That’s my job.
TimSP had thought the question of viewing voting papers was different enough to merit a new thread, but I didn’t agree, and gave him a chance to repost in the original thread before deleting the new one.
It’s all very arbitrary, I know, but the general rule is to keep it all in the one place and trust that I have the nous to start a new thread if that’s what’s required (as I have done here).
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Just to clarify, there will be NO physical meeting, its “pre-meeting paper vote”. (even though a date and time is specified as the strata managers offices) but I say this is just a formality needed to include to say a “meeting” was held.
Then the election of the committee is invalid, according to the Strata Schemes Regulation
14A Pre-meeting electronic votingFor the Act, Schedule 1, clause 28(3) and Schedule 2, clause 10(3), the following applies in relation to voting by pre-meeting electronic voting—
(a) an election must not be determined by pre-meeting electronic voting,
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Sounds like a kite-flying exercise by your committee. Somebody should “tell them they’re dreaming” to quote an iconic Aussie movie. If it’s in the lot then only the lot owner/tenant has access.
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having rules of thumb for levies out there only makes it harder to shake owners out of their low levy complacency.
Totally understand your point of view but I would dispute that rules of thumb ONLY make is harder to shake owners up. They can also make owners realise that they are paying too much or too little. That can be the start of their journey of enlightenment, not the end. All we want is for owners to ask questions and that has to start with some point of reference.
PS: The thought that I am being quoted in a Strata Manager’s website is frankly terrifying. The “prerogative of the harlot – influence without responsibility.”
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I get the feeling that a lawyer’s letter, from an experienced strata lawyer, reminding the committee of their legal obligations, might work wonders here. Shouldn’t be too expensive and would make them realise the seriousness of their situation.
Failing that, if you could get something in writing out of Fair Trading, that might do the trick.
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Has this bathroom ever been accessible to everyone in the building (including workers)? I seems like a very arcane argument unless someone has previously had access but that has been taken away. FYI, there are many areas in strata schemes that are designated common property but to which not everyone has access. Your balcony, in NSW, for a start.
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You could send them a letter asking by what authority they are harassing your tenants and warning them that unless they stop, you will take action at NCAT.
If this person is claiming to be the strata manager and, especially if they are taking payments as strata manager, but they are not licensed strata managers, they are breaking the law.
If they have sent any emails claiming to be strata manager, reply asking them to show who appointed them, what qualifications they possess and how much they are charging the scheme for their services.
In the meantime you could apply to Fair Trading for mediation. And ask to see the strata roll which should list the names of all owners. If they haven’t provided that name, they are in breach of strata law and can be fined.
It sounds like someone who doesn’t know even the basics of strata law has appointed themselves to a position to which they are not entitled, not realising that they could get into a lot of trouble for having done so.
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