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The strata plan has a note saying “No part of the building shall be common property other than common service lines”. I Googled part of that exact phrase in the hope I might find examples of other similar schemes, but about all I got was an un-requested AI opinion that ‘In NSW, the premise that “no part of the building shall be common property” is incorrect’.
AI can be notoriously unreliable when it comes to strata issues. It often scrapes the media for references from all over Australia, assuming we have the same strata laws in every state – which we most definitely don’t.
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does anybody have a pointer to some information?
This sounds very much like Community Title which operates like strata… up to apoint Here’s a guide from a legal firm:
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The details of the functions conferred on the strata manager will be in their contract and can be pretty wide-ranging.
This is what the Act says:
29 Owners corporation to appoint strata committee(1) An owners corporation must appoint a strata committee of the owners corporation in accordance with this Act.
(4) If there is no strata committee of an owners corporation, the strata scheme must be administered by the owners corporation, but nothing in this subsection prevents a strata managing agent appointed under this Act from exercising any functions conferred on the agent.
52 Owners corporation may delegate functions to strata managing agent(1) An owners corporation may, by the instrument appointing a strata managing agent or some other instrument, delegate to the strata managing agent—
(a) all of its functions, or
(b) any one or more of its functions specified in the instrument, or
(c) all of its functions except those specified in the instrument.
(2) An owners corporation must not delegate to a strata managing agent its power to make—
(a) a delegation under this section, or
(b) a decision on a matter that is required to be decided by the owners corporation, or
(c) a determination relating to the levying or payment of contributions.
(3) A delegation may be made subject to the conditions or limitations as to the exercise of all or any of the functions, or as to time or circumstances, that may be specified in the instrument of delegation.
(4) An owners corporation may delegate the functions only if authorised to do so by a resolution at a general meeting.
(5) An owners corporation may, if authorised to do so by a resolution at a general meeting, revoke or vary a delegation under this section.
53 Exercise of delegated functions by strata managing agent(1) A function delegated under this Division may, while the delegation remains unrevoked, be exercised from time to time in accordance with the delegation.
(2) Despite any delegation made under this Division, the owners corporation may continue to exercise all or any of the functions delegated.
(3) Any act or thing done or suffered by a strata managing agent while acting in the exercise of a delegation under this Division—
(a) has the same effect as if it had been done or suffered by the owners corporation, and
(b) is taken to have been done or suffered by the owners corporation.
54 Functions of officers and strata committee may be given to strata managing agent(1) The instrument of appointment of a strata managing agent may provide that the strata managing agent has and may exercise all the functions of the chairperson, secretary, treasurer or strata committee of an owners corporation or the functions of those officers or the strata committee specified in the instrument.
(2) However, the chairperson, secretary, treasurer and strata committee of an owners corporation may continue to exercise all or any of the functions that the strata managing agent is authorised to exercise.
(3) Any act or thing done or suffered by a strata managing agent in the exercise of any function of the chairperson, secretary, treasurer or strata committee conferred on the strata managing agent in accordance with this section—
(a) has the same effect as if it had been done or suffered by the chairperson, secretary, treasurer or strata committee, and
(b) is taken to have been done or suffered by the chairperson, secretary, treasurer or strata committee.
It’s odd that the Act says there must be a committee, then tells us what the strata manager can do if there isn’t one.
But the crux of the problem is this: Is the strata manager making decision that are benefitting only some owners in a real way, or harming ths strata scheme in a real way. By that, I mean are you unhappy because you don’t agree with the decisions, or are they doing physical or financial harm to the scheme. If it’s the former, all you can do is try to persuade a majority of owners to support your view. If it’s the latter, and you can prove it, then you can go straight to the Tribunal (no mediation required) and ask for the appointment of a strata manager to run the scheme.
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Check your strata plan management statement – it should be somewhere in your purchase documents. It may be your neighbour has declared this to be a dual occupancy for their own convenience when it is, in fact, strata.
NSW strata law specifically allows two-lot strata schemes to have separate insurances for the individual lots. Just make sure you have at least one minuted meeting with your neighbours a year to make sure you are on the same page and fulfil your legal obligations.
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The above very helpful message from Barnaby had a whole page of coded text, as above which I have now cleaned up and reposted below (because that’s the kind of guy I am). Just left it there as a warning to others to make sure your message comes in “clean” from whatever device you are using (I’m guessing) to copy and paste.
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I would check the Memorandum and the Service Agreement – there might be some advantages.
Got any links for those?
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Please advise about installation of EV chargers in apartment complexes.
In a nutshell, changes to common property that allow the installation of EV charging is considered a sustainability issue and therefor approvals only require a simple majority at a general meeting, not a special resolution super-majority, as this article explains.
Also, there are changes to the laws working their way through parliament at the moment that mean your owners corp will need to have very strong and valid reasons for refusing an installation. Petrol heads’ vague concerns about fires and electrical overload won’t cut it.
Finally, smart schemes are moving away from the “petrol pump” mentality of fast chargers in the car park to low voltage chargers in car spaces, which use off-peak electricity to charge your car while you are tucked up in bed. They cost about one-tenth to install and are cheaper to run.
There is a whole other discussion on this going on HERE which is also enlightening.
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Go through their contract and identify specific areas where you can prove they haven’t fulfilled it. Then tell them you are teminating the contract on those grounds and that you are prepared to take them to fair Trading if they don’t agree to leave amicably.
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According to the Common Property Memorandum on the NSW Government website, internet and cable wiring within common property walls is the responsibility of the Owners Corporation, as is internet wiring serving more than one lot, regardless of whether it is contained within any lot or on common property.
But here’s the thing, they must have taken the exiting wiring out or disconnected it and have done so without permission, so if they’re saying it’s common property, then say fine, pay us for what you took out because that was common property too.
I would tell them to go whistle for their money or call it a quid pro quo for the damge they’ve done.
Too many contractors see strata schemes like the local council which can be ripped off with impunity, and they encourage their apartment owner customers to thisnk the same way. I wouldn’t give them a cent.
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First of all, Unit Entitlements (UEs) are not calculated solely on the size of an apartment and, in fact, bear closer but not exact relationship to the value of the property. Thus a three bedroom unit at the back of a building can pay less in levies than a single-bedroom unit on a higher floor with views.
However, if there is a serious discrepancey, for instance where UEs have been deliberately reduced to favour one vendor – usually on a commercial space or a penthouse – you can petition to have them changed by a tribunal but it is a hideously expensive process involving surveyors, accountants and lawyers.
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Beware of “cheaper.” You may find that the cheaper company charges extra for services that your current SM includes in the monthly fee. It’s quite a job comparing SM fee proposals.
Couldn’t agree more. A general rule of thumb is, if you are in frequent contact with your strata manager, go for an all-in package. If you have less frequent contact or need for their services, go for a less expensive agreement that may charge for Schedule B fees.
But bear in mind that strata management is one of those areas where you truly get what you pay for. There are a couple of large companies undercutting their rivals in basic fees but making money by overloading their strata managers and encouraging them (sometimes with commissions) to charge maximum schedule B fees or simply only do work that is absolutely necessary.
Recommendations from other strata schemes in your area are often the best way to get a handle on the best strata managers.
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This would be a big project and you are going to need quantity surveyors and lawyers at the very least. With any big project I was doing, I would appoint a project manager who had done something like this before – and in Victoria, to boot. So I would phone around surveyors and strata lawyers or contact someone like or new chums at Stratasavvy to see if they have any ideas.
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And what do they plan to do if you say “No”? Hire lawyers to maybe get the Tribunal to force you? And to do what? I would be saying that the OC has inherited this problem, just as much as you have. You are prepared to put things right – agree to a common property by-law paid for by them. Here’s the thing, they NEED you to agree to the CP by-law. Without your agreement there’s no by-law, according to the Act.
143 Requirements and effect of common property rights by-laws(1) An owners corporation may make, amend or repeal a common property rights by-law only with the written consent of each owner on whom the by-law confers rights or special privileges.
They could take you to the tribunal on the grounds that you have refused a reasonable request to change a by-law, except there is no by-law.
If they want the by-law they are going to have to pay. If they want to reinstate common property, they are going to have to pay lawyers (with no guarantee of success) to force you to do it and at their expense.
I would say, with my non-lawyerly hat on, that you hold all the cards in this and they need to start talking compromise or they’ll have to explain to all those owners (who probably don’t care one way or another) why they are spending their money on what may well be a wild goose chase.
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Generally speaking, if the owners corp, as represented by a previous committee has allowed the changes to common property or, more to the point ignored them, then they “own” them.
In extreme terms, in the absence of any paperwork attributing responsibility to the previous and subsequent owners, they could theoretically come into your apartement and reinstate the common property to its original state at their expense. This, by the way, is hypothetical becasue if it went to a Tribunal – which they would need to do – they’d more than likely be strongly encouraged to reach a compromise with you.
Now, you may want to get proper legal advice on this (which this is not) but my instinct would be to go back them offering a compromise, along the lines of you being prepared to agree to a by-law accepting responsibility for the ongoing maintenance of the changes, just to formalise the situation.
However, they would need to carry the costs of the required by-laws since the problem was caused by a historic failure of a previous administration to perform its duties.
It might be worth floating that idea with them informally but if they baulk at the idea, it may be time to call a lawyer.
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