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Why don’t you submit your own version of the bylaws and a motion to accept them. It’s up to the other owners to them make a decision as to which version to accept.
Under to 2015 legislation, bylaws are treated as a whole document and not the individual bylaws previously. So what was allowed before can be changed to not allowed, provided it passes a special resolution.
Anecdotal evidence shows that owners are unlikely to pass blanket changes to bylaws without sufficient information.
And finally remember that a motion can be changed at the meeting. That means that if there is some bylaw in the secretary’s document that the majority at the meeting don’t like, that can be changed and the amended motion voted on.
Easy question first.
In regards to the stolen mobility scooter, it’s the owners responsibility to store it securely and if necessary have insurance. The OC is not responsible for owners property.
For the fall, refer this to your insurance company. Tell them you have suspicions about the claimant. If they are any good they’ll investigate before paying out.
Now just asking, why has the committee not issued bylaw breach notices? There seem to be several bylaw breaches. Using this tactic is very effective in modifying the behaviour of recalcitrant tenants.
Yes the SSMA does not help you.
BUT this owner is creating a fraud by claiming to be something he is not – a committee member.
I would engage a lawyer to send a cease and desist letter (impersonating a committee member). See what happens then perhaps take it to the police.
Alternatively you could approach NCAT for an order stopping the owner pretending to be a committee member.
Once the notice of the AGM is sent, the date is set. The owners reasons for postponement hold no weight in terms of the Act.
The Act does make specific mention of what needs to be provided in the notice of the AGM, and the compulsory motions required. If your notice does not comply in these respects, then the meeting is considered not yo be correctly called, and any business conducted at such a meeting is invalid.
Unless you have been provided with a proxy form by the owner, the usual proxies have a maximum duration of two AGMs.
My experience of small complexes is that they tend to run because if the efforts of a few, but often the OC fails to comply with the Act. It’s when a new owner comes along that the status quo is challenged. The new owner may seem to be a troublemaker, but in fact us challenging the OC to start complying with the Act.
Unless your committee is well up on the Act, I Would recommend engaging a Strata Manager. They can be helpful to help thecOC comply with the act, as well as being an independent party in settling intaowner disputes.
You haven’t provided a lot of details of your OC situation, but the new owner may have grounds to have a strata manager appointed by the court. Better to get this sorted out by a Strata Manager you appoint (at a GM) than to have one appointed by the court.
As a former landlord, this is my understanding (and as I applied it).
All people listed on he lease are responsible for paying the rent. If the rent is not paid, the courts expect the landlord to start one action to recover the debt, not two. That means if you can’t find your cotenant, you wear the whole owing rent, even if you paid your part to the landlord.
The bond is required to be in the name of all tenants mentioned on the lease. But again if there is damage, the landlord gets his money back from one bond. If the bond does not cover the damage, the landlord can recover from any person named on the lease money’s owing.
When entering into a cotenanty, you need to have absolute trust that your cotenanty is trustworthy, as you will be responsible for all debts incurred if they can’t be found.
As landlord, if I was renting to a non married couple, I insisted on both names being on the lease because I had twice the chance of recovering my money should the partnership collapse and one partner, or both skipped out. This actually happened once. I took the remaining tenant to court, and they ruled in my favour and made the one former tenant who I could locate pay the judgement.
It may be better to continue your lease in your name and set up a sub tenancy agreement with your friend. Make sure it’s in writing and signed by both.
That way, whilst you are still responsible for all debts, at least you can’t be kicked out if the friend does not pay the rent but you will have to take them to court to recover your money.
I’m not aware that the OC needs to provide the arrears list with the AGM notice.
You have two options
1. Ask to inspect the strata records. Strata records are never subject to privacy exemptions ans as an owner you are entitled to see any strata record .
2. At the AGM you just ask the chairman who is entitled to vote. The chairman or the SM has to have this information available since any owner who is unfinancial is unable to vote.
What you need to ensure in your strata is that the SM is applying the late payment interest charge to all levies not paid within 30 days of them being due and that your strata has a documented process of bringing in late levies. This should be a motion voted on at an AGM.
Then let the SM or committee deal with the late payers.
Remember there is no penalty to you for the late payers, and unless your strata is dealing hand to mouth with money, your strata should be able to carry the late payments till they are recovered.
I’m sorry to say that your horse has bolted.
As you have taken your case to a court already and had a a ruling, you’ll need to find some compelling ground to have it reviewed in a higher court.
Be mindful that taking your case to an appeal does not allow you to enter new evidence.
This is the pitfall of self representing. (I’m not suggesting that self representation is a bad idea, but not having a lawyer guide you risks falling into the traps of the legal system. Again to save any argument, I believe the legal system we have is equitable, though to the lay person somewhat baffling).
For others reading this, ALWAYS consider mediation rather than court. In mediation no one assumes blame, and if you can come to an agreement, the amount you get in your pocket can be greater than that awarded in a court less your costs. Most lawyers will help you with mediation at a a low cost.
Court is also risky and you may not get the result you want.
As this member has found, sometimes the cost of legal action exceeds your losses. It’s a call whether you want to be right ( and spend lots of money proving it) or sometimes just accepting defeat and cutting one’s losses.
The initial question is answered in reference to laws relating to wills ( or lack of).
When a person dies, their assets are administered by their legal personal representative. That’s either an executor if they had a will, or an administrator if they did not.
The legal personal representative is appointed when probate is granted by the Supreme Court. (Usually a few months after death)
The LPR carries on as if the person was alive. In order to vote the LPR needs to present a will and the grant of probate to the Chairman. However most people have not encountered this and may deny the LPR his right. (Banks and other financial institutions know this and handle this with ease).
The heirs have no right to vote until the LPR transfers the title to the heirs.
I can help with an answer.
NBN has to be one of the hardest companies to get to speak to a person. Most of the choices when you dial them point to their website.
BUT I persisted and spoke yesterday to a very helpful lady. I had specific questions about an apartment block.
When they say that you are NBN ready, it means that NBN is available in your street.
In normal circumstances the cables (for apartment blocks its optical cable) and the termination equipment should be installed by NBN. I was told that there are reasons why sometimes it is not (some of the reason she were pretty lame and explains why NBN is costing so much).
I was advised that despite the termination equipment not being installed, one should contact your NBN provider of choice and place an order for your new service. The provider will come out and discover that the termination equipment is not installed. They then ask NBN to come back and install the missing equipment, and all will be good.
I haven’t tested this yet, but seemed plausible.
Normally, the levies proposed for the capital works fund is not the spend budget, but a quantity if money to account for current (this year) and future expenditure.
Its unlikely your building will need 20’items replaced in a year. So this sounds to me that what you saw was a capital works plan. Every OC is required to create one, but there is no compulsion to implement it.
Most OCs adopt one of two ways to fund capital works.
1) Don’t raise much CWF levies each year, so the “bank” is fairly bare. When large expenses come up, raise special levies.
2) Raise levies each year, building up a bank so that when large expenses come up, the OC has money on hand.
Its up to all lot owners to decide which method they want to use.
As for what money is spent. Unless a motion is passed limiting the Strata committee in the amount they are authorised to spend without reference to the owners, the committee can spend any amount of money on the maintenance of the building.
Just thinking outside the square here.
It is likely you want to change the tiles for cosmetic reasons rather than that they have failed. ( Ifntheybhave failed it is an OC responsibility and no bylaw is required)
If the change is for cosmetic purposes, just place (and glue) your new tiles over the existing ones. Sure, there will be a change in height, but often that will not be noticeable. And no bylaw is required (in my opinion) as you are not damaging or changing the common property.
Your lot starts from the upper surface of the tiles.
Robert
First the easy answer. An owner is deemed to have received notice of the AGM if it was sent in time and it was sent to the address in the strata roll. That’s just the law and it applies to more areas than strata.
Warning to all owners, know when your AGM should be and follow up the secretary.strata manager if you don’t get a notice when you expect it.
Secondly. Did you submit your agenda items after the AGM was called? Items submitted after the General Meeting has been called can be discussed, but no motion can result from them, because they were not on the agenda.(The purpose of this is to ensure that owners who are not in attendance can have a vote on every motion)
Thirdly, anything resolved by a motion at a properly constituted General meeting, is what has been decided. If an owner was not aware of the meeting, the result of the motion still stands. If an owner gets cold feet and wants to change his vote, then the owner needs to submit a new motion ( to reverse the previous motion), submit it to the secretary/ strata manager and have it scheduled for the next general meeting.
The strata committee can also reverse the motion (at a properly constituted SC meeting), again if a motion is received from the aggrieved owner.
good luck
You are quite right to complain to the managing agent. The tenants are required to adhere to the bylaws, a copy of which they get with their lease.
looks like you need your Owners Corporation to issue a breach of bylaw. The bylaw you are looking for concerns causing a nuisance.
Dont be put off if the OC is lazy in issuing this for any reason . You have a genuine grievance and the OC needs to act.
The statutory manager was probably appointed because your OC was not functioning properly. Functioning properly being the key words. But correct me if I am wrong.
The statutory manager is now not responsible to the OC, but to the court that appointed him.
Unless you can prove that his actions are fraudulent or favouring his interests, then you have little recourse.
Why not work towards harmonising your OC with the intent to prove to the court that you can indeed manage yourselves and eventually getting rid of the statutory manager.Only then will you have the control you desire
External wall
Definitely OC responsibility as they are responsible for maintaining the common property.
Report it to the committee or the Strata Manager