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I am rapidly reaching the conclusion that Fair Trading NSW will do anything in its powers to avoid holding Real Estate agents and especially Strata Managers accountable for even major indiscretions that fall short of criminal activity such as fraud or theft.
Fairly recently, Strata Community Association (NSW) was celebrating having achieved Professional Standards Status, something they trumpet at every opportunity. What does this mean? According to their own website:
“This means strata manager members of SCA (NSW) must adhere to a Code of Ethics including professional standards and is monitored by Professional Standards Australia.”
And what is their code of ethics? Have a look here: Code-of-ethics-and-Complaint_management-form-fillable-2021-UPDATE-JULY-2022.pdf (strata.community)
Also, it appears that once again SCA is promoting itself as the best body to represent strata owners, with strata managers telling owners not to join the OCN as the SCA will provide the same services for free. But they can never answer this question: in a conflict between owners and strata managers (one of the most common areas of contention) whose side do they take?
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Take Jimmy’s advice and call Marrickville Legal Centre to set up an appointment.
There’s an online form you can fill in that will tell them whether you qualify for their free help. Strata – Marrickville Legal Centre (mlc.org.au)
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Not contradicting, but a lot of strata schemes give the strata manager full delegated powers so (he says, donning his Rumpole wig) wouldn’t the strata manager be implicated by default anyway? Or would they be covered by their iniquitous contracts that say they can never be held responsible for anything they do, ever?
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It’s about a 10 or 12 year max rolling engagement – check the legislation.
It’s a maximum of three years in NSW (apart from the first year of a strata scheme’s existence) and I think Victoria has made that change too.
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Is there legal requirement to have 60% of funds collected before construction to starts in January 2025 & all funds collected by Jul 2025 with 11 months of works still to be completed ?
No legal requirement that I know of, but you may find that the contractor requires a substantial deposit, partly so that they can order materials with reasonable confidence that the strata scheme won’t change its mind.
2. Can the special levy stage 1 be collected over a longer time frame [ ie more than 6 quarters] ?
Yes – it’s up to the owners to agree by a simple majority on the time frame (although you have elected a committee to make these proposals).
3. if not, can the normal quarterly capital levies be increased to match the timetable in stage 1 & 2 with construction finishing in Jul 2028 and adjusted as needed ? [our AGM is in Feb 2024]
What you would need then is a strata loan which spreads the payments over years rather than months, meaning no one is going to have to sell their homes. See the ads on these pages for our sponsors Lannock Finance.
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I find it a lottle hard to believe that all the committees and treasurers that this manager has worked with over the last 14 years are happy NOT seeing the raw ledger of transactions.
If you are suggesting that Flatchatters use personal messages to find out if they have been diddled by the same shonks, that’s fine by me. But you seemed to be inviting people to “discuss this offline” which is what bothered me.
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You could try quoting the heading of Section 151 of the Strata Schemes Management Act (below) at them, pointing out that they could be breaking the law if they turn off the water (probably not, but worth a try) and that the landlord will definitely be breaking the law if they let them, which should speed up the payment.
151 Owners, occupiers and other persons not to interfere with support or shelter provided by lot or with servicesAn owner, mortgagee or covenant chargee in possession, tenant or occupier of a lot in a strata scheme must not do anything or permit anything to be done on or in relation to that lot so that … the passage or provision of water … through or by means of any pipes, wires, cables or ducts for the time being in the lot is interfered with.
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It depends what you want. If you simply want the strata manager’s behaviour to be reported, compile your evidence and send it to Fair Trading (there is an online complaint form). If it’s really, really unforgivably bad, someone from Fair Trading will call them up and tell them they’ve been naughty and ask them (nicely) not to do it again.
If the strata manager’s action were unprofessional, dishonest, outside the scope of their contract and have cost you financially (or otherwise), and you can prove it, take your evidence to a strata lawyer and ask them what they think your chances of getting compensation might be.
However, bear in mind that no strata manager in the history of NSW strata has ever been “struck off” or penalised in a meaningful way, just for being really crap at their job. Fraudulent behaviour is another matter entirely and you should talk to a strata lawyer if you think you have a case.
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Feel free to send me a message if you want to discuss this offline.
Only if you feel you have to name a company, please! The whole point of this forum is so that others can benefit from your experience and opinions. That’s why it’s anonymous.
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But be prepared that 3x breech notices will have to go out first before you are set to escalate to NCAT for enforcement and fines (s0 I was once advised).
As far as I know, the “three warnings” rule is a strata myth. You send the Notice to Comply and if they continue to breach, you apply directly to NCAT for penalties, by-passing Fair Trading mediation provided the NTC has been properly issued either by the strata manager or via a decision at a legally constituted strata committee meeting. I can find no reference in the strata Act to having to send more than one NTC.
The wording on the official (and only valid) Notice to Comply is simple – the resident or owner has been found to have been in breach of a specified by-law. They should stop doing whatever is breaching the by-law, and failure to comply could lead to fines of up to $1100.
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I’m suspending our ban on professionals being named in these pages – just in case there’s a good strata lawyer in Victoria who wants to get involved.
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The other question is, how do you remove someone who is not entitled to be there or doesn’t have proof that they have been invited or proxied by an owner or resident? I guess by the time you got to that stage, security might have been organised.
Someone I know used to invite a big ex-army tenant to his strata committee meetings just to tell one owner who would interrupt constantly and noisily to “calm down”. Not terribly legal but very effective.
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Unbudgeted things somewhat enter the world of the special levy
So you reckon that if an unbudgeted item exceeds the 10 per cent limit but the owners agreed on the spending at a general meeting and the money was available in either of the funds, you’d still need a special levy. I’m not saying that’s not the case, but I can imagine a lot of strata schemes, with majority approval, would spend the money and just move on. Who’s going to stop them?
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At the risk of being obvious, ask to see it. Also, the Act requires the chair to announce who can vote and any proxies supplied for the meeting. Ask them to show the proxy form. If they can’t, then you might argue that the proxy vote doesn’t count.
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