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Whilst I am going to generalise, I’d bet the person is a tenant.
Make it known to the strata manager and the committee the behaviour of this person. Ask the strata manager and the committee to contact the owner and make them aware of the tenants behaviour.
You may be able to get the owners contact details but as you are not an interested person as defined in the act, you are not legally entitled to see the OC records (to get the owners details).Most strata will have a standard by law regulating the behaviour of owners, tenants and visitors. It covers dress and conduct. Your lease will include these by laws.
if you observe behaviour by this tenant that contravenes the by law, tell the strata manager to issue a notice to comply. If the tenant contravenes this by law again not only can he be fined but it’s grounds for his landlord to terminate his lease.
Other than that consider moving. Right now there are many properties for lease at reasonable prices.
The first problem you have changing the visitors parking into “other “ parking.
The building approval by the council was based on the premis of a certain number of visitor parking spaces. In order to reduce the number of visitor parking spaces will require a DA approved by the council . Good luck getting that approved as council requirements are more stringent today. Without council approval every other step is academic.
Check what type of resolution is required for what you propose. Most changes to use of common property require a unanimous resolution. Your elderly resident could vote against your proposal and you’re back to square one.
The “sharing” of these visitor parking spaces is just going to cause more future trouble. People, rightly or wrongly, will claim others have unfair access or use of the spaces. Someone is going to sort this out, and neither the police nor NCAT are going to help you because no law has been broken.
If you can get the visitor parking spaces reclassified, then consider auctioning off the spaces . Maybe make a yearly lease for each space and rent the spaces to the highest bidder.
You may suddenly find that owners are not prepared to rent the parking and find somewhere else to park.
Finally your SM is correct. You have to present in court with clean hands. Until the current mess is cleaned up, your elderly owner will quite rightly claim he is being victimised, and until a clean pair of hands is presented in court, the courts won’t enforce a judgement against him.
Finally remember the police have no jurisdiction in terms of parking on common property. They will quite rightly say it’s a strata issue.
Parking on common property is covered by a by law and so it’s a civil and not a criminal matter
Generally the planning consent for the building requires a certain number of car parking spaces for each lot.
I am going to say that going by plans I have seen for strata, the builder would have put in the minimum number of parking spaces for each lot.
You may not have a car and say that your garage is superfluous.
But given that you are changing the number of car parking spots for your lot, this conversion would probably require council approval.
You can just do the conversion on the quite but you risk the OC making you take it down until council approved it.
BTW it’s unlikely to get council approval because it would breach one of their planning conditions.
Be circumspect about what you are doing and see what happens.
Aesthetics
I think more wars have been Fought over Aesthetics than any other issue.
Whilst technically what you describe is alteration to common property, another interpretation could be garden maintenance. Trees and shrubs get larger over time and need trimming. They can also get too large, or just go out of fashion.
Just make sure this is a really important battle you want to take on. And that you have support of a majority of owners lest you get labelled that crazy person.
Get 25% of owners to call a general meeting and put your motion on the agenda. Better than going to mediation since the majority vote is the rule.
Yolbee
I think you are too harsh on the SM. It sounds like people in your complex are reluctant to be on the committee if The SM has to Encourage people to stand.
The alternative is that no one nominates and the SM automatically assumes all the roles.
I think that not a place any strata wants to be.Take the initiative and become more engaged. That probably means establishing a working relationship with the SM. They generally help people who show an interest.
Also, take a strata course. I can’t mention any names of organisations who provide these, but there are courses for strata committee members. It’s pretty cheap.
An animal to be registered as an assistance animal needs to be trained and then registered a such.
Usually it needs the a letter from a medical professional as week that states that indeed the subject needs the animal in order to function in daily life.
Its not a registration that’s given lightly
It’s difficult to take action under s57 if the manager claims he was doing what he was told to do by the committee. S57 only applies if the strata manager was delegated a responsibility ie treasurer, secretary or chair and in that capacity did something wrong.
Get your evidence together where you show the other owners have enriched themselves and take it to the tribunal. You are going to have to prove that a) OC money was spent ofn lot owners property b) that any work done on common property was not necessary but used to benefit the other owners.Good luck
Tom
from your last post I understand why your last strata manager resigned or quit
When the committee/owners flagrantly breach the law and the responsibilities to the OC it can sometimes become an untenable situation for the strata manager. they are caught between serving their master, the OC, and ensuirng the OC complies with the act.
Whilst Jimmy makes a good warning about compulsory strata managers, i think in your case a little pain may be required by you to get the OC back into line.
From what you describe it seems that there is ingrained bad habits within owners and the committee which are unlikely to change unless the big stick is wielded.
The pain may be for two years, but in that time, as Jimmy points out, things will be done by the book. Maybe in that time the incalcitrants will see that the jig is up and move on.
Now you have me confused.
If this is “strata” why are you paying the gas bill?
It looks like a villa? Does that heater only supply your lot?
Im going to stick my neck out and say by the location, and other factors, it’s actually your property.
If I am correct then you can relocate it, at your expense and with the approval of the OC.
Is it a gas heater?
There are rules about how close a gas heater can be to an opening window.
Ask a plumber and see if the heater is incorrectly situated.
That may be your best course of action.
As an alternative to a compulsory manager, find an agent YOU are happy with, get 25 % of other owners to back you up; ask the secretary to call a general meeting with the agenda item to appoint YOUR strata manager.
This sort of forces the OC into appointing a strata manager unless they want to be self managed.
The question is why did the OC find this out at such a late stage. The SSMA says the manager must give the OC three months notice prior to the expiry of the contract.
Or was the committee informed and did nothing?
Any person or company claiming to be a strata manager must hold a licence. If they don’t then they can’t charge for their services.
it seems, reading between the lines, that your strata has some issues. It’s unusual for a strata manager to not at least seek renewal of their contract. I suspect that your strata is more trouble than it’s worth to them.
Thats also why they gave you the lame excuse about not being qualified to be compulsorily appointed.
I have spoken to a few strata managers and they view their appointment as the kiss of death. Many owners are unhappy with their appointment and the appointment rarely turns into a long term contract.
Ascsuggested by Jimmy find an agent who is willing to take on the job and go to NCAT with your reasons why they need to be appointed. You don’t have to do this before the other contract expires as when it does expire you just become self managing. Let the committee then deal with that.
I am in NSW.
As Sir Humphrey said, the strata plan ( available from LPI) determines what is common property and what is lot property. Thick lines generally show common property boundaries and thin lines are just dividers.
Be aware that the date of when your strata was registered (pre 1974 and pre 1986) have an affect on interpretation of common property.
Also read the bylaws as there may be exclusive use bylaws affecting common property.
To amplify what Sir Humphrey said,, the committee under no circumstances determines what is common property and what is not. They can choose to,interpret the strata plan, but you can challenge their interpretation.
That may require a good strata lawyer to help you and a visit to the tribunal.
BTW the strata plan is attached to your contract of sale if you don’t want to pay at LPI
Jimmy
I made the wrong reference. Its the Strata Schemes Development act 2015 Part 1 Preliminary 3 definitions
And whilst the Common Property Memorandum is widely used as the bible, even if a strata adopts it the SSMA overrides it.
The definition of common property depends on when the strata was registered. The 2015 Act identifies 1986 as the relevant date in th It is case
This is somewhat similar situation to the definition of common property that is applied to pre 1974 strata ( that is there are specific differences between pre 1974 building common property and post 1974 common property)
And my source of reference is Amanda Farmer. She discussed it at length on two of her podcasts.
Jimmy is on he right track
Your bylaws will have some by law about changing the look, or damage to common poroperty or some such bylaw. Be creative with the interpretation.
Insist that the strata manager issue a breach notice to the chairman.
This saves having to go to the tribunal and the effec t is more immediate
Mind you the chairman may object to his own strata manager issuing such a notice is which case you may just have to head to the tribunal but this time under section 232 ( failure of the OC to act)