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Mostly anyone can be elected to a strata committee, provided they are nominated by an owner who is not standing for election. The exceptions include the building manager or a real estate agent who operates in the block, and who are not owners.
In the first few years of our current building, the architect was on the committee, which was utterly invaluable. And the good news is that if the owners realise they have “accidentally” elected someone on to the committee who really shouldn’t be there, a simple majority can vote them off at a general meeting.
A non-owner can’t elect themselves on to the committee, unless they carry a valid proxy from an owner.
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I only voted against a bylaw, two years late, but according to NCAT two years late is okay. My thoughts were to have the bylaw modified to allow for a ‘sunset’ clause
Unless you proposed a “sunset clause” as an amendment to the by-law, at the meeting at which it was discussed, then the reason you voted against it is pretty much irrelevant.
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because I voted (democratically) my dissenting vote will carry the costs claimed by the solicitor of the OC member
It sounds like you are saying that because costs were awarded against the owners corporation, and you obviously are a member of the OC, you are having to bear your share of the costs award.
If that’s the case, I assume this is a small strata scheme (which would have been handy to have had spelled out). Assuming all that is the case, this is not a penalty of costs against you personally, but against the OC (excluding the prevailing party) for which you have to pay your share.
This is a quirk of strata law which means that owners who fail to prevent Tribunal action, even for things with which they disagree, can end up paying for decisions with which they have no issue.
In this case, it sounds like your secretary is at fault but, as long as they were acting in good faith – i.e. they didn’t know this was going to happen – then there is no recourse that I can think of for recovering the payments.
However, it may be worth contacting Marrickville Legal Centre, which provides free legal advice for pensioners in need across NSW (not just Marrickville).
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The chair lift is attached in two places to a common property wall. Therefore, shouldn’t the owner be required to have a Bylaw written and seek owners approval at a general meeting?
Provided this is inside the lot and not visible from outside, I’m pretty sure this would be a “minor renovation” under Section 110. Otherwise it would require a common property by-law.
110 Minor renovations by owners(1) The owner of a lot in a strata scheme may carry out work for the purposes of minor renovations to common property in connection with the owner’s lot with the approval of the owners corporation given by resolution at a general meeting. A special resolution authorising the work is not required.
(2) The approval may be subject to reasonable conditions imposed by the owners corporation and cannot be unreasonably withheld by the owners corporation.
My question is, is the phrase “approval of the owners corporation given by resolution at a general meeting” covered by the standard delegation of powers given to the strata committee at a general meeting? In any case, they need permission subject to reasonable conditions (such as reponsibility for maintenance and repair of attachments) which may not be unreasonable refused.
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Rather than a letter of demand, how about sending a registered letter that says something like:
It has been several months since I informed you about our renovation plans and you have told me every time we have discussed it that you have no objections but that you would get your daughter to write the required supporting letter to council. Thus far, after xx months, and several discussions, no such letter has been forthcoming as your daughter is “too busy”.
To be clear, I attach a summary of the works proposed. I propose that if you choose not to provide a specific objection to me and council within the next 14 days, I will assume that you have, as you said, no objection to the work.
However, if you do have specific objections, I will examine them and see if I can do anything to ameliorate the issues, and adjust my plans accordingly.
I am anxious to progess this matter as amiably as possible but I’m afraid I can’t wait for your daughter’s availability to be the deciding factor in whether or not these renovations proceed.
Please let me know as soon as possible what your objections are, if you have any, and I will take them into account when progressing this with council. Again, if I haven’t heard from you in writing within 14 days, I will ask council to accept that as tacit acceptance of the plans as provided.
Regards etc etc
If that doesn’t work – if the council won’t accept a non-reply to a registered letter or if the daughter takes the hump and decides to object to everything – apply for mediation at Fair Trading prior to seeking NCAT orders (Section 126) and see if that gets things moving.
By the way, a registered letter only costs a few dollars and you can even pay a couple of bucks more to get a postcard sent to you with a copy of the recipient’s signature.
And if the daughter does take offence, explain that you have other options and you are just trying to move things along by avoiding the stress of Fair Trading and mediation on her mother.
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Can we as lot owners apply to have the Strata Company removed based on these issues?
This question was asked over a year ago and shamefully seems to have been overlooked. I’m guess one of the reasons for that was the question of what does the OP mean by “Strata Company”? They have also critisised the strata manager, separately, so who are they talking about? If you are still out there, let us know (and apologies for the overlong delay).
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I am generally opposed to fencing off car spaces and adding a fence to this situation isn’t going to do much top make your life easier. Honestly, I would go back to her and say, something like:
Forget the fence, please just get rid of your boxes and stop using visitor parking for your own purposes.
The boxes are unsightly and a fire risk and the garage is specifically designated on the plans for parking cars (if it is). Using it as a store room may be in violation of our strata insurance (worth checking).
Visitor parking is for visitors and, according to strata experts on flatchat.com.au, using the space permanently for your own purposes is a form of theft. I’m sure that ws never your intention but now that you know that, it’s up to you to do the right thing – and that means moving your accumulated jumble from the car space, as a first step.
OK, this could start World War 3 but you have rights and in this situation, she has none.
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The key questions are whether or not it affects common property and whether or not it can be seen from outside the lot. If the answer to the first two issues is ‘no’ then it’s a minor renovation which can be approved by the committee (subject if need be to conditions on noise etc). If the answer to either is yes, then you need a bit more thought and probably a by-law.
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Probably, but I think you would have to get orders from NCAT before you did that, and that way it not only is legal, but you can then sheet the costs of the work back to the misbehaving owner.
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As the barrier is going to be attached in my lot space, do l actually need her permission to proceed?
Are the garages common property or lot property? That could make a considerable difference.
In any case, she’s the one breaching the rules. If she wants to get snitty about it, just tell her if she wants to go by the letter of the law, she can get all her rubbish out of the car space and stop parking in visitor spots.
I don’t see the point of the wire netting on either side, to be honest. If it’s loose enough to allow opening of doors, what purpose does it serve? Also, parking spaces are designed to allow car doors to be opened, even if it means they have to swing slightly into the adjoining space. If her boxes prevent you from doing thi, she should be told to move them.
Obviously in such a small scheme, disputes like this can get very personal – but that doesn’t mean you should let bullies rule the roost. Perhaps what you should do is show her your plans as a courtesy but make it clear they are not dependent on her giving permission.
And if she does get high and mighty about it, apply for mediation at Fair Trading with a view to getting her to remove the boxes and stop parking in visitor spots.
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Whilst in essence I agree that it can be problematic that an owner or committee member is appointed as a building manager, the act does not prevent such an event.
The key issue seems to be whether or not they are owners in the scheme. This from the Act:
32 Persons who are not eligible to be appointed or elected to strata committee(1) The following persons are not eligible for appointment or election to a strata committee or to act as members of a strata committee unless they are also the owners of lots in the strata scheme—
(a) the building manager for the strata scheme,
So, it seems an owner can be both on the committee and be a building manager but a tenant couldn’t.Also, when it comes to the “awkward” moment when the building manager’s contract is up for renewal (or otherwise) under the amendments that came in this week the BM/member can’t be present during the discussion or vote as they have a clear pecuniary interest.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.
This is not strictly strata related.
More than 50 per cent of strata units are rentals, so it kind of is.
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If the stickers are to show the inspection status of whatever they’re stuck to, removing them might not be a good idea.
Yup, but you can instruct the service providers to remove th old sticker before they replace the new one.
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Part of the question here seems to be that the strata manager is giving the owners the correct advice and they are choosing to ignore it. Also, since the appointment was made with unanimous support, it doesn’t sound like any owner is likely to challenge the appointment at NCAT. As we say so often here, there are no Stratakops and the strata manager may not wish to upset the applecart any further.
I think the best thing they can do is to send a letter to the committee to get it on record that committee member can’t also be the building manager and what the possible downsides of allowing this to continue may be.
Given that the threshold for rescinding committee decisions when they were made inappropriately is almost impossible to achieve, it’s hard to see what the potential downsides might be if everybody is happy with the arrangement. However, if a new owner moved in and decided they wanted the scheme to be run according to strata law, that would be a different thing altogether.
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