[Just Asking]

We have experienced a similar problem at our complex as it is common for pavers to move over a long time period when laid on soil rather than concrete. In our case the courtyard areas form part of the adjacent lots. Does the strata plan have something which looks like an “S” drawn on the line between the main area of the lot and the adjacent garden area? This would indicate the garden area, as described, forms part of the adjacent private lot.

The next question we encountered was whether the pavers were in place at the time of registration of the strata plan, or a later installation by an owner? In our case the pavers have been laid over the top of the original grass, by the current (not original) lot owner.

We have not yet adopted the Common Property Memorandum, which lists pavers as a lot owner’s responsibility. We have not yet done so because the strata plan takes precedence and we want to have a solicitor check for inconsistencies between the strata plan and the Common Property Memorandum.

 

[Just Asking]

Surely the time is not far off when a committee would find it hard to justify not following this course? In this day and age there would be many strata residents (probably not Flatchatters) who would be surprised to learn it is not currently standard practice?

[Just Asking]

Wow, Stratavault sounds like a great idea! At present, to look at a specific document it may require an appointment at the strata manager’s office during business hours, to be presented with a cardboard box full of jumbled items and no guarantee this collection is complete. Just makes great sense for things to be scanned and digitised then stored in the cloud, providing a back up for the physical documents which can then remain safely stored. Access by online means could still be controlled along the lines of current practices.

For a few years now libraries, archives, professional practices, councils etc have been doing  versions of cloud storage for clients.

[Just Asking]

It is not good to be dismissive of mould as it can have very nasty effects, on people and buildings.

The circumstances where these tenants have taken action against 2 previous landlords, and now threatening a third, when the current premises are new, makes me wonder if it is their possessions which have been contaminated in the first mouldy premises and they are taking the problem with them from home to home?

If there has been water ingress into a room and you are negotiating remediation with the builder, it would not be a bad idea to consult a mould expert to ensure appropriate work is done by the builder to stop future water ingress and any water damaged materials and mould (hidden as well as visible) are removed. Mould is often part of a building defect claim, with the cost of the expert included in the claim, and you should obtain formal advice before the defects liability period expires.

The usual medical advice to a mould sensitive person is to remove themselves from the troublesome environment, and your offer to let them break the lease without cost should be attractive to your tenants in the current climate where rental property availability is up, but rental prices are falling.

 

 

 

[Just Asking]

Hi Jimmy, I did not intentionally set out to make this long. I would dearly love to do exactly as you suggest, however such action would backfire badly if the strata manager could claim gutter cleaning is standard work, and so is authorised to engage contractors without reference to the owners corporation or committee.

I thought that asking whether a strata manager could spend owners corporation funds on the say so of an individual owner, and fail to account, would cause annoyance, as being too basic a question. I am new to the world of strata, having recently picked up responsibility on behalf of elderly parents, and in the particular case of this strata manager and strata scheme it appears to be a very strange parallel universe.

[Just Asking]

The strata manager has on more than one occasion by email denied engaging the contractors, and stated they were unaware the contractors attended the property, yet have paid the invoice. An employee of the contractor has told me about emails received by the contractor from the strata manager advising the committee had approved the works, and offered to send these to me. This same employee informed me that moments after my email sent (to make it an easy reply) was received by her, the strata manager telephoned instructing her not to provide the correspondence. I had cc’ed the strata manager so the employee at the contractor could see I was who I said I was.

I am the secretary of this strata scheme, and the strata manager continues to decline to make the correspondence or invoice available to me, or other committee members.

[Just Asking]

I am also generally in favour of dogs!

It is not enough to claim your dog is an assistance dog for a health issue. The dog must be trained and officially qualified, and this takes considerable time and effort, but results in extra nice dogs.

Although the landlord may have given permission to keep the dog, a dispute at NCAT with the other owners may not be palatable to the landlord, even if you are prepared to go that far.

Your relationship with your dog will hopefully be for many years to come, and the question of permissions to keep the dog with you will keep recurring whilst you are either a tenant or living in a strata scheme. A longer term plan needs to be thought about, and avoiding NCAT also?

[Just Asking]

It is a strata scheme, not a community association. The strata management agreement is a standard form document, printed by the association which many strata management companies belong to. Their logo is printed on the document, and coincidentally also appears in the advertisement at the top of this page for a strata management company. There is no ability for the owners corporation to change the executed document.

The strata manager knows work orders should not be issued at the behest of one owner. A new strata manager, when the current agreement expires, if not sooner, is intended. Meanwhile, we need to contain the anarchy?

[Just Asking]

My GP was in a similar situation, but was experiencing grief in relation to keeping a toy poodle! She got around this by training her puppy to be an assistance dog, officially. Assistance dogs are recognised for those in stressful occupations, or otherwise with mental health concerns.

[Just Asking]

Sorry, perhaps not very well expressed.

No, I do not imagine the strata manager will be climbing a ladder and cleaning gutters ever. Arranging for standard work to be done with respect to the common property up to a specified cost is within the delegation to the strata manager under the strata management agreement. I imagine the exertion by the strata manager is in issuing the work order?

In the case of non standard work, the strata management agreement provides no expenditure may be incurred by the strata manager unless instructed by the owners corporation. The strata manager has engaged additional gutter cleaning contractors at the behest of a single owner, with the additional contractors carrying out the same work as performed by the first contractors, within 3 months. The gutters are fitted with leaf guards.

Hence the need to know whether gutter cleaning is classified as non standard work before querying the strata manager. This is merely the latest in a very expensive series of contractors being engaged seemingly without authority at the behest of the same individual owner. We would like to bring a stop to this, before the bank account is empty.

[Just Asking]

We do have access to information through a portal provided by a well known strata software operator. Only invoices from contractors such as gardeners are available. Jimmy do you suggest that the strata manager’s invoices for their various fees could be available to the strata committee via the portal?

[Author]

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