Forum Replies Created
-
Replies
-
Extinguishment of strata title requires 100 percent agreement. Everything else flows from that because you won't be able to get your neighbour to do anything they don't want to do (and vice versa) or pay anything they don't want to pay.
Obviously you'll have to reach contractual arrangements for remaining common property (like the aerial) but that's well beyond my area of expertise.
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.
So you think my opinion, backing Chris Kerin's but countering Easty's view that there must be negligence before the OC is liable, “doesn't apply”?
In that case, my best advice is to trust no one, apply your extensive legal knowledge (plus the free legal advice you have been given – by a lawyer who is expert in this field, no less) and run the case yourself.
See how much out of pocket you are after that.
This topic is now closed.
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.
That all makes perfect sense, Lorraine, but what if no one wants to take the job(s)? I've been told that most strata management agreements include a clause the nominates the SM to act in the office-bearers' roles in the absence of an EC member willing or able to do so. Of course, this costs money – they won't do extra work for free.
Maybe the answer for any building that doesn't have volunteers for office-bearer roles or a strata manager, is to get one.
JimmyT
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.
Chris Mo'ane is 100 percent right on this. The OC caused the damage and/or their repairs damaged your paintwork. Therefore they need to pay for the repaint job. Time your strata manager and CTTT connections got themselves up to date with the law. This is a misconception that's as common as it's wrong. Chris, by the way, is a recent Strata Business Person of the year. His company Integrated Building Consultants (ibc.com.au) are pretty much leaders in their field.
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.
Urban Spaceman said:
2. I am not racist, but the four or five different CTTT senior staff I had dealings with in my matter all had foreign names and heavily foreign accents. IE English was not their first language and my perception is that did not fully understand my problem or the foibles of life in a strata here. How can they? If they have only experienced a year or two or even three or four of life in Australia?
Urban
I always cringe when someone starts a sentence with the words “I'm not racist, but …” because whatever comes next is rarely going to end up in a good place. But we know you are a good a decent soul so can I just say that regardless of whether the strata laws were in English, Urdu or Swahili, the problem occurs when anyone tries to establish common sense and logic to them. Even strata managers and CTTT adjudicators struggle to fully comprehend let alone explain Strata laws and regulations because the intent and the practice are often contradictory.
Maybe, to prove their value, Fair Trading should be trying to make the laws and regulations understandable to anyone in any language that's spoken in Australia … but first they'd have to unravel their own work, wrapped up and coded, as it is, in impenetrable bureaucratese.
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.
Easty
As you'll see from today's column in the Herald, the fact that the OC aren't aware or even couldn't possibly be aware of a problem is no defence against a claim that they are liable for common property and any damage cause by its failure. It seems to be an absolute responsiblity without limit. Is it uninsurable? Probably not – just bloody expensive. And I agree it shouldn't be like this – but it is.
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.
Ok, everyone repeat after me – the CTTT is a waste of space.
Don't know if this helps but you can appeal to a higher court
District Court appeals
Appeals may be made to the District Court of NSW under section 67 of the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal Act 2001.
The grounds for an appeal to the District Court is that the CTTT made an error when it decided a question with respect to a matter of law. Appeals to the District Court must be made within 28 days from the date the CTTT's order is made.
Contact the District Court of NSW for further information on the appeal process.
Supreme Court appeals
Appeals may be made to the Supreme Court of NSW under section 65 of the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal Act 2001.
The grounds for an appeal to the Supreme Court include that there was a denial of procedural fairness or that the CTTT did not have jurisdiction to make the order.
Contact the Supreme Court of NSW for further information on the appeal process.
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.
You will almost certainly have recourse under your by-laws about people not disturbing the peceful anjoyment of others lots. Get the EC to shut the drummer up and move him on. There are plenty of rehearsal spaces available.
And don’t hold back – installing a drummer in a strata development is the absolute height of selfishness.
If she’s so worried about junior’s career in music, your neighbour can shell out for electronic drum that only he will hear.
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.
To answer Hasbean's last question, it's “normal” for ECs to refuse to pay for CP-caused damage, but it's neither right nor legal.
And to jump in and answer for Chris, the OC would have been liable for any damage cause by a fault in Common Property like a leak of pipes inside a wall.
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.
First of all, you could try politely reminding them that they are in breach of the by-laws which (I assume) states they can't park on common property. They would have received a copy of the by-laws when they signed their lease – but even if they didn't, ignorance is no defence.
Secondly, point out to them that by being in breach of the by-laws they are almost certainly in breach of their lease (which will state that they have to abide by the by-laws of the strata scheme). So what they think is a minor inconvenience to you is clearly a potential major inconvenience to them.
Meanwhile, you need to ask your Executive Committee or Strata Manager to issue a Notice To Comply. If they ignore that, they face substantial fines to a maximum of $5,500 from the CTTT.
By the way, if you have a camera that can date stamp pictures (digital ones will do so anyway, if you've set the time and date) you should start taking pictures to prove this is a real and ongoing problem.
Having said all that, I think if you politely explain to them that 'it's “tough” on them – if they keep parking there, the will be fined and possibly evicted – they might see the error of their ways.
And, I might make this my Renters Rant in a week or so, so show them the article in the Herald – if that doesn't fix it, then a Notice To Comply is the way to go.
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.
OK, first up, the last thing you want to do is not pay your levies as that removes your right to vote and table motions, among other things.
Secondly, this is not about your neighbour who has the right to shower whenever they like. It's about inadequate sound insulation in the pipes of your building (the kind of thing that makes “luxury” affordable). This is a defect that your Owners Corporation needs to attend to and they have a legal obligation to do so.
If they refuse, call 13 32 20 and tell Fair Trading that you want to take action against your Owners Corporation to remedy a building defect.
Finally, the Owners Corporation is every owner in your building, whether they want to be part of it or not. This includes you.
The Executive Committee is elected each year at the AGM of the OC to make decisions on its behalf.
The strata manager is employed by the Owners Corporation to run the building's finances and by-laws. They are usually answerable to the executive committee on a week to week basis but, ultimately, they are employed by the OC.
Owners Corporation decisions always take precedence over EC decisions.
Hope this helps
JimmyT
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.
That's correct. The differences are in the process – the secretary is assigned to call meetings, send out agendas and minutes etc etc. The chair's role is largely undefined.
You certainly can be a member. You have to be nominated an owner but you can nominate yourself (unless you are a co-owner, in which case you need to get the other so-owner to nominate you).
This normally happens at an AGM where the process is to call for nominations, then decide how many members there will be on the EC (max 9, min 1) then if there are more nominations than seats, a vote is held.
Alternatively, if a vacancy appears during the year between AGMs, the EC can (in fact, must) co-opt someone to fill it. That person then serves out the remainder of the term until the next AGM.
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 seems to me the non-office bearers want the best of both worlds. It's what the British newpaper proprietor Lord Northcliffe called “the preogative of the harlot – infuence without responsibility.”
The fact of the matter is that the office bearers are elected by the other EC members so the Secretary and the other members of the Opposition could vote the chair and treasurer out any time they liked and vote themselves in. But then they would have to do the work.
The “one EC member, one vote” concept is enshrined in legislation to the point that it spells out that the chair doesn't even have a casting vote. The corollary of your situation is visible in ECs where the incumbents have managed to convince other members that they have proxy support from the AGM (invalid) or greater unit entitlements (ditto) and then run the buildings to suit themselves.
You can reduce the size and composition of your EC at the next AGM. Personally, if I were in that position I would resign from the chair (but not from the committee) and let them see how it feels to have the tables turned.
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 don't think it's ever too soon to let the EC and the strata managers know, politely but firmly, that you have a problem and that you are prepared to do whatever needs to be done to have this rectified.
In this instance, a call the Fair Trading (13 32 20) is definitely in order right now and I might even go so far as to organise a couple of quotes from qualified repairers.
CBF's comments about volunteers are valid but if those voluteers don't have time, aren't interested or are so defensive that they won't listen, then they shouldn't be on the committee. They are supposed to be bridges with owners, not roadblocks.
You shouldn't have to run a campaign to get on the EC at the next AGN – whenever that is – to get vital repairs done to common property that the OC is legally obliged to carry out.
I think there's a point where you have to say to the EC and the strata managers, we can do this the easy way or the hard way, but either way, you must, by law, arrange for the roof to be fixed.
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 strikes me there are three separate issues here. Firstly the “illegal” parking, secondly the 'leaching” and lastly (and leastly) the mysterious 'constitution'. To dispose of that first, if it's not by the by-laws then it has no legal force (although it might be used to prove that certain things were accepted practice.)
Secondly, there is the leaching – this is a responsibility of the Owners Corporation and any damage to a bona fide visitor's car, you would expect, would be the responsibility of the OC. Are your legal rights eradicated by parking illegally? I don't think so.*
Finally there's the question of parking there illegally (and let's assume that was the case, for the sake of argument). Look at it this way, if any car had been parked there illegally and the OC tried to move it and damaged it in so doing, they would, I think, be liable. The illegal parking and the damage done would seem to be two separate issues.
I reckon the EC should be issuing you with a Notice To Comply on the one hand, an a cheque from their insurers on the other. And, by the way, they should be doing something about the leaching.
*I am neither a lawyer nor a strata manager and I might be totally wrong on this. So any professionals reading this – or anyone who has come across anything like it – please chip in and let us know what you think.
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.