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Some options:– Request in writing to the Secretary that at the next general meeting or annual general meeting that the following items be added to the agenda
” That the Owners Corporation terminates the services of (Name of your current strata management company) by providing (number of months – check the Agreement) notice.”
” That the Owners Corporation appoints (Name of a strata company that you have interviewed and has provided a quote) following the notice period”.
The new prospective strata manager will also suggest probably better worded motions to go on the agenda and go with these if they are available.
You will need to do the strata management research and I suggest that you do this with at least one other owner.
– Contact SCA NSW 02 9492 8200 and ask if they have any members in your location that you can contact for a quote. https://nsw.stratacommunity.org.au
Email the following to the secretary for inclusion on the next General Meeting Notice –“That the Executive Committee Meeting Minutes be approved by all members of the Executive Committee before being distributed to owners.”
At that meeting you and other owners will have the opportunity to discuss this issue because it is listed on the meeting’s agenda and must be voted on by those present.
Thank you. Today I have emailed the Strata Manager, addressed to the Executive Committee of the Owners Corporation, asking that on the next Annual General Meeting Notice that the following item be included:That the Executive Committee Meeting Minutes be approved by all members of the Executive Committee before being distributed to owners.
The next AGM is planned for May 2014 and I will let you know the outcome.
Before the next Annual General Meeting write to the strata manager and request that the following motion be added to the meeting notice agenda – “That all Executive Committee Meeting Notices and Minutes be posted or emailed to all owners”. When buildings under 100 owners are undertaking major building works and raising significant levies it is a great way to communicate what’s happening. We had a problem with bicycles being abandoned in the designated common property bicycle area with racks. There were so many that they were piling up. The Executive Committee held a meeting and resolved to send out a notice to all 213 residents advising that unless they tagged their bike with the owners name and unit number that within 4 weeks they would be removed. 4 weeks passed and all but about 8 that were tagged were removed. No compliants were received. I suggest that you do the same with the objects in the stair well. Stairwells are not storage areas and if there is an emergency and people are vacating the building in little or no light they can be an unintended obstacle.
Ask the strata manager for a copy and check the Strata Management Agency Agreement; Schedules A1, A2, and Schedules B, C, D for additional services and charges. Some agreements also include attachments apart from the above. If details of this service are not there ask for further information from the strata manager. If the response is unsatisfactory contact an Executive Committee member or raise it at the next Executive Committee meeting or AGM.
Ask for further details from the strata manager e.g. number of hours and rate per hour, copies of receipts or further details for phone calls, printing and postage costs. This could easily be provided by the secretary and demonstrates transparency. Usually payments are agreed in advance by owners at the AGM for designated member/s of the Executive Committee for phone calls and printing costs. Some owners corporations support reimbursement for costs incurred particularly for those volunteers on the Executive Committees on fixed incomes and are agreed up front and in advance.Most strata companies offer on line access for all owners to view their owner levy ledger and the balance sheet with statement of income and expenditure. Some are now providing more information with copies of the strata plan and by-laws. This is particularly convenient for off site owner investors wishing to monitor how their levies are being spent and owners/property managers wanting to access by-laws. Its usually easy to log on and navigate. An added bonus – there is usually no cost.
Restricting access to the Executive Committee limits all owners ability to scrutinise expenditure and lacks financial transparency.
If you do not receive a satisfactory response from your current strata manager then seek quotes for a new one. In NSW change of strata manager can only be voted on a General Meeting. A potential new strata manager will also provide the Motions to go on the AGM Meeting Notice and other useful advice. On the Strata Communities Australia NSW website you could search for strata managers in your area.
If you are looking for a strata manager who is a member of Strata Community Australia (NSW) you could look at their website https://nsw.stratacommunity.org.au and go to “Strata Directory” to search.I recommend that the Executive Committee also conduct at least three reference checks and have three quotes before proceeding. You should also ask who the strata manager will be managing your strata plan and their experience and qualifications. It is strongly recommended that your strata manager be a NSW Fair Trading licensed strata manager, you can check on line at www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au
If the strata management company also provides a service where all owners could access their levy ledger and the strata accounts on line this would be a added bonus.
We have also had ‘Special Levies’ for the last several years to pay for stages of the fire safety upgrade project. Fortunately, we have regular on site Executive Committee meetings which owners have been encouraged to attend. This is a good forum to raise questions about why and how your levies are being spent. Because we have over 100 lots (units) we also have a facebook page that was started in April this year for use by all residents to access information and raise any issues. We can also log in and download a current Balance Sheet and an Income and Expenditure Report. Ask your strata manager if this can be made available to owners in your strata plan.
The Strata Community Australia (NSW) have a Code of Ethics for members. This can is located in the ‘Consumer Info’ top of page menu at http://www.nsw.stratacommunity.org.au in the Consumer Info menu.To make a compliant about a strata manager, who is a member, you need the endorsement of the Executive Committee unless “the circumstances are very unusual and extreme” (See SCA (NSW) Complaints Management Form Item 4 ‘IMPORTANT NOTE’.
Thank you and I have checked today with the software company that hosts the secure website for owners login only access. They said that there is no charge for emailing documents, e.g. financial reports and meeting minutes, on request from this self service on line site. Some strata managers do charge for emails that they have received and sent but when you log in to access documents yourself on this site there is no extra charge to you or the strata company. The strata company does however pay an annual fee to the software company for this service but there are no extra charges when owners select and have documents emailed or downloaded to them from this website. The website is like a portal for your strata plan where you can access and download you current levy ledger and also access the latest minutes and other strata related documents. There are benefits to investors and owners seeking financial and meeting minutes and who travel a lot or live a long distance away and cannot attend meetings or the strata managers office. My interest in this topic is to encourage greater financial transparency – our annual budget is over $1.5m – and accountability by both the Executive Committee and the strata company.
Owners can opt to receive their levy and other notices/minutes via email and this has a significant cost saving, particularly for larger strata schemes. The strata management company where I live has provided each owner with a personal login to a website where they can access their own levy ledger details and other documents like AGM Minutes and a current and up to date financial report that includes a balance sheet, income & expenditure details for interested owners. This has been particularly useful. What I am suggesting is that more information be made available on the internet by strata companies for owners using a secure log in website. Most large strata companies do this now but the amount of information uploaded to the websites is limited and is variable and detailed financials are generally only provided to the Executive Committee. Financial transparency and the easy access to useful strata information would also be a welcome benefit and comfort to all owners. Fees for strata management administration should be falling. With documents now available on-line to owners through a secure login means that many documents can be disseminated without cost for photocopying (usually a charge of 50c a page) and postage. For large schemes (over 100 lots) this can be a significant cost saving as by-laws, minutes, and detailed financial reports can be made available on line. All of the major strata management companies have access to this facility that is provided through their strata accounting software. There are several strata specialist soft ware companies that provide this service. With the call for greater financial transparency and the significant financials involved this type of on-line service will be inevitabily made availableby all strata companies. If you cannot access your documents and financial reports on line – change your strata manager.
Thank you, I will write to the secretary and ask that this motion be placed on the next General Meeting as an item on the agenda.
In relation to the instructions received by the strata manager not to provide the General Ledger Transaction Report prior to the AGM, I did write to the strata manager after the meeting asking who instructed them to do this and they replied that the scheme had chosen the interpretation of the SSMA ‘that each line item of expenditure be disclosed for the purposes of the meeting, not each individual payment’. She also advised that she was instructed by the Executive Committee not to release this information.
I followed up to find out who gave these instructions and she replied “feel free to attend our office and undertake a S108 search to satisfy your enquiry.” No where in any Executive Committee Minutes were there instructions of this nature recorded. Whether it was in email to the strata manager from an Executive Committee member will test the extent of records available under a S108 search.
I have asked the strata manager to resign over this lack of financial transparency and other matters.