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In what time frame such mediation can be realised? And if the committee continues to ignore the mediator, what can be done?
Section 282 of the Act allows for two months for strata committees to respond to a complaint, so you could take that as a guideline.
If the committee refuses to act or runs down the clock, you can then take action at NCAT, seeking orders (which you couldn’t do before you’d attempted mediation.
By the way, Fair Trading mediators can’t issue orders or instructions – all they can do is facilitate agreements between owners.
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I was wondering if it was possible at an AGM to Table a comment DURING the meeting?
If the item isn’t on the agenda, it shouldn’t be discussed. If it is on the agenda, you can ask that your report should be accepted and minuted, albeit as one side of the story. The other owners may object as they may want to put their point of view too.
That said, it is unlikely that the strata manager or chair would want to air a dispute between two or three owners unless the OC was directly involved.
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From the clip you mention, it reinforces the knowledge that most journalists – TV or otherwise – have no idea how strata works.
Putting this simply, so even tabloid TV journos can understand it, if there is a valid by-law in place and residents or their offspring are breaching them, then they could and probably should be issued with notices to comply.
But to be clear:
- Strata schemes can’t fine anybody for anything. A $250 fine from the owners corporation would be unenforceable. It would have to come from the Tribunal (NCAT).
- The OC can only issue notices to comply. A notice to comply is a warning that there are by-laws and residents need to abide by them. If they choose not to, then they can be taken to the Tribunal which may issue fines.
- If the kids are causing a noise nuisance, then the parents could be issued with a notice to comply.
- Same applies to dogs barking and doors slamming.
All of the above behaviour can be moderated. If the residents can’t do that, they can be fined – but only by the Tribunal – for breaking the rules.
If the fundamental rules for living in a high-rise are too onerous, residents should find a house to live in. If they can’t afford to live in a house, they should respect the rules of the shared space where they can afford to live.
It really is as simple as that. Otherwise, the rules or by-laws of strata can be altered by a majority of people who own and live in the community. If you don’t like their rules, try to have them changed or go somewhere else.
If the rules of the strata are being unfairly imposed, then you can argue that at the Tribunal and, if the Member agrees, you shouldn’t be fined.
If the Owners Corp is issuing its own fines, that is illegal. However, as it says at the end of this clip, they are following the law so that is unlikely.
It’s a shame that there’s no strata law to prevent lazy journalists from trotting out half-baked stories based on ignorance and misinformation for the sake of a headline. Do some research, for pity’s sake.
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The reply I received from the OC claims they have legal advice supporting their position. How can I dispute this? I suspect that getting a lawyer might cost more than just paying for the rewiring.
Legal advice from whom? The strata manager? The bloke at the chip shop? As a member of the owners corp you are entitled to see all correspondence to and from the OC and the committee, so ask them to send you a copy of the “legal advice”. If it’s from anyone less qualified than an experienced strata lawyer, then you can file it in the “highly dubious” basket.
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It’s not the wiring, it’s the fact that it’s embedded in common property. If every owner was left to fix this themselves, then common property ceilings (which are also floors) could be seriously compromised. Your strata committee needs to stop acting like a group of self-interested individuals and start taking responsibility for the whole building.
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I have just noticed that you asked about removing a unit from a strata scheme. If you are talking about one unit in a block, I don’t think that is possible.
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If you are talking about NSW, the 2015 Strata Schemes Management, Regulations and Development acts – which in combination created the mechanisms by which a super-majority in a scheme could vote to dissolve or radically alter the strata plan – became law in 2016.
These are all accessible online through government portals.
Despite the processes being in place, the opportunities for dissent and effective veto are so extensive that very few strata schemes have gone down this road, instead allowing market forces and generous financial compensation to get the backsliders over the line. However, the threat of employing the collective sales laws is hovering in the background if a small minority tries to hold out for selfish gain.
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You might be able to sell them on this by mentioning insurers reduce premiums on rewired buildings!
This might get them over the line but the simple fact that they have a legally enforceable duty to maintain and repair common property should be enough. They know this, you’d think, which is why they are arguing that it’s lot property.
You just have to tell them they’re wrong and they can either waste money on lawyers and then fix it anyway, or just fix it.
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A dropped ceiling isn’t a common wall …
Didn’t say it was …
The wiring the OC has declined to repair is in a metal conduit embedded in a concrete ceiling (which is also the floor of the unit above, I think).
Then it is common property unless there has been a by-law created (during renovations, for instance) to state otherwise. Start mediation proceedings at Fair Trading – that will sort them out and costs nothing.
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Fair Trading’s much-quoted “Who’s responsible …?” document is ambiguous on this as it says that wiring in a ceiling is common property but wiring in a wall that services only one unit isn’t. Complicating the issue is that many apartments have false or dropped ceilings which, according to my block’s lawyers, are technically a wall.
So I would say that if the wiring is embedded in a concrete ceiling, then it is common property but if it is above a dropped ceiling and only serves that unit, then it is lot property. Make sense?
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You can’t decline. And the OC has a right of entry to your unit for the purpose of maintaining common property although not for the purpose of stealing your valuables.
If an owner refuses entry, the OC can seek orders granting them entry from NCAT. They can’t just barge in. If the owner still refuses entry in defiance of NCAT orders, then they are in breach of Tribunal orders and can be fined.
The OC or its employees can’t force their way into a unit unless it is a genuine emergency where personal safety or damage to property is immediately at risk.
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How can I put this? The strata manager doesn’t know what they’re doing and, fundamentally, that’s what you have to deal with.
Take the “written warnings”. Notices to Comply are written warnings so all you are doing is warning them that they will get more warnings.
Huh? Let’s reverse into this. If you want to take action for a breach of by-laws, you must (in NSW) have issued a Notice to Comply. That’s the law. So if you send someone a warning telling them that if they don’t stop misbehaving you will take further action, that action must, according to strata law, be a Notice to Comply.
A Notice to Comply says that the resident has breached such and such a by-law and if they don’t stop, then they will be taken to NCAT and they might get fined. Is that a warning or a threat? It doesn’t matter.
If you send them any other, non-NTC warning of further action, you are effectively saying, if you don’t heed this warning we are going to send you another warning.
Your strata manager should know this. Time to start looking for a new SM before they do real damage, methinks.
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Is this decision to be made by the owners or the management organisation?
You seem to not fully understand the management structure in strata schemes. Theoretically, the owners corporation (all owners) tells the strata committee what to do and the committee instructs the strata manager on getting it done.
In reality, the strata manager advises the strata committee on what they can and can’t do, the committee makes decisions on behalf of the owners corporation (if given the standard delegation to do so) but if a majority of owners don’t like the committee’s decisions, they can overturn them.
There are exceptions to this – such as decisions that the law says can only be made at a general meeting of strata owners – but that’s the way it works on most issues, in most schemes most of the time.
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