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Unless you have individual water meters the division of the water bill is based on unit entitlement (the same way that the admin and sinking fund is split).
Their is no allowance in the act for substitutes and so their election is invalid and so unless they were voted in as committee members they have absolutely no right to participate in EC meeting even if one of the principles is absent.
@Whale said:
“THAT subject to the preceding Motion being carried and to avoid future requests of that type being put to General Meetings, the Owners Corporation Specially Resolves to draft and Register a Special By-Law to cover all relevant consent conditions for both the works by the Owner of Lot XXX and those applicable to any and all future requests for the installation of air conditioning systems by Owners at the Plan, at an estimated cost of $XXX.”I basically agree but once the motion to approve the a/c has passed by 75% you have then got to have another vote to approve the actual wording of the SBL. You cannot pre approve a bylaw without the actual wording AFAIK.
It’s my opinion that the no of a/c units (or any change to CP) installed in NSW without any approval far exceeds those that do have the correct approval because the process is so cumbersome.
This must be one of the most common requests by lot owners and so the first thing to do is see if a SBL is already registered for your strata and if so use that as the template and just put in your details. Also check if any other owners have a/c installed without a SBL.
Their are more than 2,000 members on this site surely one of them could provide a copy of a suitable generic bylaw (I cannot because we don’t have this issue in QLD) that you could use. Bear in mind if this vote doesn’t happen at the AGM then you could be up for the costs of an EGM as well.
Doing the right thing in NSW Strata is a bottomless pit of costs to the person who want to do it right.
One thing doing it Whales way you not only need the motion to install the a/c approved by 75% but you then need the SBL to be approved by the same 75% as well. So skip the motion just submit a SBL for the a/c unit which saves having 2 votes.
@Kenuppa said:
What is the relevant legislation for Queensland?I found the “Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997” Current as at 1 December 2013, but cannot find any reference to changing colours.
The act doesn’t go into that sort of detail but it’s been ruled in QLD that changing the color is considered an improvement which requires a special resolution to approve it.
The act you have found is the correct one for QLD
Gutters: generally yes
Garage doors: It depends if they are on the boundary with common property and if they are, the door, the opener and all associate mechanism are covered. The exception generally is the remote as it is considered a key and it’s the owners responsibility (if you loose a key the strata doesn’t pay for a replacement but if it stops working you might have a case).
I agree with Whale be reasonable and polite but keep a detailed record of breaches of any bylaw especially if they block you in or park on common property and take photos of their transgressions. The more they break the rules the better your chance of winning especially if you appear to be the reasonable one.
The thing about adjudication is you can list numerous breaches for the same price and get a ruling on each.
If he continues to block your access you can short circuit the conciliation process by obtaining an Interim Order to stop him blocking your access here is the details from the act:
124 Applications for order to be made to Registrar
An application for an order under this Chapter must be made to the Registrar and must:
(a) be in writing stating the grounds on which it is based, and
(b) specify the order sought, and
(c) be accompanied by the prescribed fee.125 Registrar to be satisfied that mediation has been attempted before
accepting application
(1) The Registrar must not accept an application for an order under this
Chapter unless:
(a) mediation under Part 2 or otherwise has been attempted but was unsuccessful, or
(b) the Registrar considers that mediation is unnecessary or inappropriate in the circumstances, or
(c) the application is for any of the following:
(i) an order under section 162 for the appointment of a strata
managing agent,
(ii) an interim order under section 170 or stay of the operation
of an order under section 180and
170 Interim orders
(1) If an applicant for an order under another provision of this Chapter requests the making of an interim order and an Adjudicator is satisfied
on reasonable grounds that urgent considerations justify the making of
the order, the Adjudicator may:
(a) make any order that could otherwise be made by the Adjudicator
or the Tribunal, andThe interim order would just be to stop him blocking you in whilst you pursued him for this and other breaches because conciliation and adjudication can take 6 months.
Yes I agree with DaveB an informal arrangement is meaningless but to get the common property back you need to go to conciliation and then adjudication (total cost approx $140) but your case is rock solid and I cannot see how you could loose.
Changes to the common property require to be approved by the OC (not the EC) and if it is an improvement (as opposed to repair) it needs a 75% majority to approve it. If the first DA was approved by the OC and the EC had delegated authority to implement it then if that DA is changed the whole process needs restarting and it needs to go back to the OC to be re approved by an EGM with a 75% majority.
Yes the roof is common property and it is the responsibility of the Strata to repair it such that it doesn’t leak again. If that means removing the roof and increasing the pitch (or some other method) then it is up to the strata to do so.
At the first occurrence of the problem you might be eligible to claim on the insurance but subsequent flooding is down to the strata and they would be liable for that damage and any further damage to your property.
Don’t blame the SM as they work for the strata and take instruction from the strata.
I’d immediately start proceeding at NCAT against the strata for failing to maintain the common property and ask for all your damage claims to be paid by the strata.
Strata cannot turn a blind eye to design faults and just hope they will go away they need to fix the cause of the problem.
Is the building still covered by the original builders insurance ie less than 10 years old.
Totally agree with Whale you can only register a bylaw that has been passed by the owners at an EGM or AGM with a 75% vote in favor.
The SM cannot just decide to register a bylaw because they think it’s a good idea. Suggest you obtain a coy of the new bylaws from the lands dept (cost about $20) to see what has happened and if their is not any change demand your money back.
Bear in mind the cost to register 10 new bylaws is the same as to register 1.
Also the EC cannot dump the SM it has to be a motion at the AGM and a simple majority is required for the motion to be passed and you get rid of the SM.
Make sure you have another SM lined up unless you intend to self manage.
@scotlandx said:If an OC took it upon themselves to rip out an air conditioning unit that serviced a lot on the basis that it was an unauthorised addition by a previous owner, they would be in a hell of a lot of trouble. The same applies to an addition that needs servicing – if there is no by-law specifying that it is the responsibility of an owner, then the OC has to do it.
I’m not for one moment suggesting that anything unauthorized be ripped out, I just saying it’s not the strata responsibility to fix an unapproved addition.
Quote from another post.
Two points: The owner in question wants to change the compressor at the Owners Corporation’s expense. This owner does not consider the air-con to be their own private property. This was an illegally installed unit for which responsibility has transferred to the owners corp (unless the owner is lying).
On that basis, the Owners Corp has acquired responsibility for the air-con but, as I have said repeatedly, they don’t have to fix it. They can just remove it.
This is a different situation from an owner wanting to fix their own air-con at their own expense
Author JT himself.
I also agree Whales solution is the best but how many strata have the knowledge and time to manage this, I suspect very few and most would only come across this issue once an illegal alteration have been found and a new owner is asking the strata to repair it.
For the strata to accept responsibility to maintain all unauthorized alterations is a license for unscrupulous operators to make unauthorized changes then sell expecting the strata then to repair their doggy work. Luckily I live in QLD where this cannot happen but I cannot believe this was the intention of the strata act NSW.
I am talking about NSW Strata rules. I know it’s messy in NSW and I know the strata is responsible for common property but if an owner has fitted new very expensive items to common property (with no SBL) and this item breaks then the strata can just return it to it’s original state if asked to pay for the repairs.
If the new owner then objects he can be given the option of paying for it himself or having strata remove it for free. I agree the strata cannot insist that the item is removed, but I believe it can refuse to pay for any repair (with the exception of returning the CP back to it’s original state).
For an a/c unit on CP that breaks (supplying only one unit) then the strata should say it’s not our problem and leave it up to the new owner to fix it. I’ve looked at the Adjudication ruling and can find none that has forced the strata to fix an improvement that was unauthorized. Mind you their is only 1,000 online in NSW, QLD has approx 10,000 online so a much bigger database.
Is the Strata responsible for the regular ongoing maintenance of unapproved a/c units, solar panels. hot water tanks, etc located on common property.
I’m afraid I don’t agree with Scotlandx on this, the Strata is only responsible for the original building common property or items it has installed itself. In the case of a tv Ariel not approved by strata that has become dangerous, the only obligation of the strata is to make it safe by removing it and returning the roof to it’s original state. This would apply to all unapproved items.
@JimmyT said:
That’s a car space half-empty point of view, KP. The proposed legislation will allow, nay, encourage council parking inspectors to patrol strata car parks at the behest of owners. Has to be a step forward, don’t you think?
I agree anything is better than nothing but I don’t see how the inspectors will know which cars are which in Visitor spaces. Unless you have a time limit say 2 hours.
What about if they park in residents own parking bay and then it is not even a Strata issue the poor tenant has to go to civil court to take action against the offender for trespass.
Can someone comment who lives in a place that has council parking wardens control parking on their strata.