Forum Replies Created
-
Replies
-
This is what the Act says:
OWNERS CORPORATIONS ACT 2006 – SECT 47A
Lot owners must not repair, alter or maintain common property or services
(1) This section is subject to section 56 of the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 .
(2) A lot owner must not repair, alter or maintain—
(a) the common property of the owners corporation; or
(b) a service in or relating to a lot that is for the benefit of more than one lot or the common property.
(3) Subsection (2) does not apply if a lot owner has been expressly authorised by the owners corporation to carry out the repairs and maintenance in accordance with section 46 or 47 as an agent of the owners corporation.
Now, unless the strata manager has total control of the scheme through delegated powers, I would say they had no right to authorise the initial “precedent” window replacement or the additional work.
If I were you, I would write your motion to the owners to include a clause that you seek restitution from the strata manager for permitting the “precedent” work to go ahead, but you might find that too inflammatory.
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’m no expert on Victorian law, but if the strata manager says the committee alone can’t make decisions about common property, then the strata manager certainly can’t, regardless of any delegated powers they may hold.
The strata manager’s boss must know they have screwed up and is now basically ass-covering. It’s time to tell them who’s boss. Get your secretary to rewrite the motion the way you want it and instruct the strata manager to send it out, unedited.
Remember, the owners are in charge – not the strata manager! If the strata manager doesn’t like that, they can take their business elswhere and wait for the bills for fixing this to come in.
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.
If that neighbour has a key to your Unit, it’s possible a previous resident gave them a key (in case of being locked out, say), and they may not have returned it.
Aaah, that makes sense. Change the locks, solve the problem. Buy a new lock that fits. Any reasonably handy person in the building could do it for you.
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.
Are you referring to the building facilities manager or the strata managing agent? Either way, they are incompetent fools, backing up SCA President Julie McLean’s assertion that there are too many untrained and unqualified amateurs passing themselves off as strata managers in Victoria.
Find out how much it would cost to rectify the situation to your satisfaction and then bill the OC managers accordingly.
By the way, I doubt if the “precedent” would stand up in a tribunal. It was a decision the manager was not empowered to make (I’m guessing) so it can’t be used to justify any other decisions. Might also be worth asking what relationship the manager has with window installers.
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.
We could borrow from CWF but then we are obligated to raise a special levy to replace the funds we borrow within 90 days.
The Act says in S76 (2) (below), that within 90 days you are obliged to “determine” the amount to be refunded, it doesn’t say you have to refund it within 90 days. It goes on to say that this comes under S 81 (5) which says it can be paid in instalments – it also doesn’t say how large or frequent those instalments should be.
Even if your strata manager says the Act means you have to pay it back in 90 days, who is going to complain if you interpret it a different way? The strata manager is bound to follow the OC’s instructions (within the law) you are not obliged to take their advice.
76 Use of administrative fund or capital works fund for purposes of other fund
(2) The owners corporation must, not later than 3 months after the transfer or use, determine the amount to be levied as a contribution to the fund from which the transfer or use was made to reimburse the amounts paid from the fund. Section 81 (3) and (5) apply to a contribution determined under this subsection.
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 a common misunderstanding. Proxies do not have entitlement to vote. Sch 1 clause 23 talks about who is entitlement to vote. Proxies are entitlement to cast the vote of the person with entitlement to vote (if the person with the entitlement is financial). It isn’t semantics.
This isn’t semantics either:
Schedule 1, 25 Rights of proxies and limits on votes by proxies
(7) Limits on exercise of proxy by building manager, on-site residential property manager or strata managing agent
A vote by a proxy who is a building manager, an on-site residential property manager or a strata managing agent is invalid if it would obtain or assist in obtaining a pecuniary interest for, or confer or assist in conferring any other material benefit on, the proxy.
Also, it would help us to understand your argument if you could differentiate between proxy holders, proxy votes and proxy providers. Referring to them all as “proxies” is pretty confusing.
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.
Hi Jimmy,
you are wrong about the Greens delaying action on rents. The labor government was proposing action next year. The Greens want action now, and labor is rethinking.
Yeah, but the issue seems not to be the Greens saying to Labor “do your thing NOW” but saying “do OUR thing now.” That’s the problem with zealots – they’re focussed on the fight rather than the fix. Congratulations, Greens. You held the line, just as you did on climate action, and everybody suffers, especially the people who voted for you.
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’ve been contacted by Edwina Feilen from a company called Sedgwick who says:
“I saw the message about someone needing assistance in this space on the latest issue but am unable to register or log in. My organisation specialising in many aspects of assisting our clients and including strata deal with many building related issues including that relating to mould and would be happy to help. Not sure how to reach out to the person needing assistance. If you can point me in the right direction that would be appreciated.
Email: edwina.feilen@au.sedgwick.com Website: http://www.sedgwick.com
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.
Do the model rules apply automatically or do they have to be adopted if they aren’t in place already?
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.
If the strata committee hasn’t done anything within two months, or has actively declined to take action, you can take them to the tribunal for failure to fulfil a statutory duty, under Section 232 of the Act. Your first compulsory step if you go down that road would be to seek mediation at Fair Trading.
However, it strikes me that if we can wrap pipes in insulation to stop them freezing in colder areas, surely we can do the same with joists to stop them heating up and cooling excessively. It could be a cheap solution – has anyone tried it?
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 am going to suspend our ban on people naming contractors (or themselves) on this Forum so that this person can get the assistance they need. However, if you are telling them who to avoid, send a personal message.
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.
Your strata manager may have delegated powers to act as the Secretary, but any decisions can be rescinded by the committee. As the SM on what grounds and by what authority they have called the meeting. This is what the Act says:
19 Other general meetings(1) The secretary or a strata committee of an owners corporation may convene a general meeting (that is not an annual general meeting) of the owners corporation at any time.
(2) The secretary of the owners corporation, or another officer if the secretary is absent, must convene a general meeting (that is not an annual general meeting) of the owners corporation as soon as practicable, and not later than 14 days after, receiving a qualified request.
(3) A meeting may be convened on a qualified request even if the first annual general meeting has not been held.
(4) A request is a qualified request for the purposes of this section if it is made by one or more owners of a lot or lots in the strata scheme having a total unit entitlement of at least one-quarter of the aggregate unit entitlements.
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.