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You should have received a copy of the current bylaws with your property purchase documentation, which will show if he has permission to park and to erect a sunshade.
If nothing shows he has permission for neither (unless granted under a normal motion at EC or AGM and if so it can be revoked with another motion removing that permission).
Suggest a compromise let him keep the sunshade but stop parking his car their. His being their 10 years is meaningless except that he ought to know better (having 10 years strata experience).
Must admit I don’t agree with some of Cosmos comments.
The one I totally agree with is that the insurance is for the strata you have NOW not the one you would like.
My issue is that if you pay for a valuation for insurance purposes that is what the property should be insured for (not some future valuation). Strata regulations generally require a valuation every 5 year (QLD anyway) and in the intervening years the value is increased by reference to an inflation for houses that the insurance company use.
Also if you insure the strata for $8,270,000 and you have a total loss the insurance is obliged to pay you $8,270,000 but if the rebuilding cost more than that, that is the strata problem. If the rebuilding cost less the insurance will pocket the difference.
The insurance will reduce the claim is if the strata is under insured and then they will reduce the payment by the % that the Strata was under insured by.
@Jef said:
Question: does the strata manager (entitled to commission on the insurance) have the authority to refuse the EC request?
Jef
NO he doesn’t. You tell him what to do not the other way around because he works for the Strata who pay him. He is their to advise you on the strata law, and it up to you whether you take his advise.
If you insist he does something illegal (this is not the case here) he can refuse but he cannot do something instead.
@PeterC said:
Having each owner required to declare their little bit is what you want to avoid.I agree and my understanding is you can do this IF the PV system only supplies the common areas and doesn’t supply any power to the actual lots (which is where the tax liability comes in if you do).
@jeff.f said:
Is there anything we can do to obtain the Strata Roll in this circumstance? It is a catch-22 as we cannot call an EGM unless we can get a copy of it.SM have to be registered in NSW you could complain to the Gov dept responsible for this registration.
Or get the EC to take action as Scotlandx suggests.
The simple ans is yes they can
BUT if individual owners do it to reduce their power bills it’s ok but if the strata do it it’s considered income and subject to tax and I have read one opinion that not only is the Strata liable to be taxed but individual lot owners could have to declare this as income on their tax returns. This to me seems crazy but then we are talking tax.
Strata building insurance DOES cover the things you mention, it could be your SM is too lazy to lodge a claim. The strata insurance covers not only common property but the fixtures and fitting within the lot. It covers everything (just about) included when the house was built and all associated fitting, even improvements are covered under the fixtures and fitting part of the policy.
Get hold of a copy of the product disclosure statement (PDS) for strata insurance from your insurance company web site.
I’m afraid Jimmy I’m not making myself very clear.
I don’t believe a SBL is required for ANY common property upgrade done by the Strata, it just needs to be approved by a Special Resolution and that is it (no SBL required).
The rules regarding improvements are the same in QLD and virtually all our upgrades have been done via Ordinary Resolutions or just EC motions (ours is NOT a well run Strata). This has been done here for expediency and originally ignorance and I don’t mind bending the rules if it results in a better environment.
My reference was not to the QLD law but the NSW act:
65A Owners corporation may make or authorise changes to common property
(1) For the purpose of improving or enhancing the common property, an owners corporation or an owner of a lot may take any of the following action, but only if a special resolution has first been passed at a general meeting of the owners corporation that specifically authorises the taking of the particular action proposed:
(a) add to the common property,
(b) alter the common property,
(c) erect a new structure on the common property.
Fitting a tempering value would be considered an improvement requiring a SR.I dare say a lot of strata would approve this via a Ordinary Resolution or even a vote at the EC and most people would go along with this but anyone in the know would realize this is not correct and leave the Strata liable (if anyone cared that much).I’m not splitting hairs just stating the law in NSW and everything I said previously would apply to NSW.Jimmy
I’m replying to your post but my comments are getting deleted as soon as I post. Can you del my last 2 duplicate posts and I’ll try again on another m/c. sorry.
The communal HWS I assume is one system supplying all lots (as opposed to individual HW tanks mounted on roof) and so it would be Strata responsibility.
You could fit tempering devices within your lot at your cost but to do it to the HWS on the roof would be a Strata responsibility and as the technical note only applies to new systems their would be no requirement for the Strata to do anything.
You could submit a motion to the OC to have a tempering valve fitted centrally by the OC but this would require a Special Resolution as it is considered an improvement (75% in favor).
As this would improve the system for all users they might go for it.
@Whale said:
Changes and additions to the common property of a Plan can only receive the consent of an O/C if >75% of those in attendance at a General Meeting, both personally and by proxy, vote in favour – and where that percentage is determined from the units of entitlement (UOE) of those voting and the aggregate UOE of the Plan (i.e. a “poll vote”); that’s a special resolution. Under this scenario the works can proceed, and the O/C is responsible for the on-going maintenance and repair of whatever it is that’s been consented and thereby attached / added to its common property.
OK so only the OC can approve changes to the common property by a vote of 75% in favor and if that happens then the OC accepts responsibility for the ongoing maintenance of the item approved (if no SBL registered). This is not difficult because most owners would not realize the implication of granting permission for the change and so vote in favor thus lumbering the Strata with the ongoing maintenance. The only thing the proposer has to do is make sure it is voted as a special resolution rather than a ordinary resolution.
But what happens if an owner says he received the 75% approval 10 years ago for an a/c unit which has now failed and he wants the OC to replace it. I serious doubt many keep an ongoing record as you do and the chances of finding a copy of the motion from 10 years ago is remote. So the OC is lumbered with the replacement cost.
The onus should be on the lot owner to prove it.
Also what happens when a new owner buys a lot the responsibility of the owner who did the changes vanishes once a new owner appears.
@Whale said:
There are existing restrictions imposed by the provisions of Pt 4 of the NSW Strata Schemes Management Regulation (2010) with regard to legal expenditure and to the need to obtain quotations, and the NSW Strata Schemes Management Act (1996) imposes restrictions on E/C’s of Schemes >100 lots spending >10% in excess of any budgeted amount, and additionally requires that the Agenda of every AGM of an Owners Corporation (O/C) must include an item to resolve “….if any matter or type of matter is to be determined only by the Owners Corporation in General Meeting.”I understand legal advise is limited which is sensible.
But for other spending are you saying the EC can only spend money that is budgeted for in the Admin fund. When we approve the budget in QLD we are authorizing the SM to spend up to each item in the admin fund without futher approval.
BUT in QLD the EC can authorize other spending from either the admin or sinking fund up to a limit of $200 x No of lots without OC approval. The only requirement is that they inform the OC of the results of the motion and 50% don’t object within 7 days of being informed of the spending.
I’m getting very confused about how it works in NSW.
@daphne diaphanous said:
They (our EC & the SM) are clobbering an elderly widow with a heart condition at the Tribunal to remove her a/c from the common wall (she had it installed last year) to her back wall. All of the clobberers, bar the SM, have all three “improvements” & nary a special by-law in sight.BUT did the OC or EC pass an ordinary resolution approving any of these improvements because if they did then they have got approval for their alterations with the OC having to maintain them (due to their being NO SBL defining maintenance responsibilities). This to me is a crazy situation.
The good news is the Tribunal case will fail (IMHO) if the widow can show others have been granted permission and she has been denied. Just get her to submit a motion to EC or OC asking for retrospective approval for a/c. If the other clobberers did not seek approval she doesn’t even need to seek permission because they cannot apply the bylaws selectively.
My feeling is 90% of alterations don’t ask for approval, 9% seek approval and 1% do the correct thing and get an SBL passed. This is based on what happens in my Strata in QLD (where the onus is on the owner for maintaining any alteration done by owner and only an ordinary motion approving change is required).
@daphne diaphanous said:
There are also some with automated garage doors.If the garage doors are original or installed by the Strata then they are the Strata responsibility (including the opening mechanism, motor, rails, springs, etc which are within the lot). The only exception is the remote which is considered owners responsibility.
If owners have installed a automatic opener to the original door it is the owners responsibility (except the actual door). If owners have replaced the garage door with new door and opener then that owner has full responsibility for door and opener (until lot sold), then responsibility returns to the Strata BUT only for the door (not the automatic opener). This assumed no notion passed approving change.
If strata passed an ordinary motion granting permission for the change but didn’t ask for a bylaw then the Strata remain responsible for both the new door and automatic opener.
This to me seems to leave NSW strata wide open to abuse by unscrupulous owners who know the rules and exploit them.