Forum Replies Created
-
Replies
-
Renoman,
Like most that have responded on this thread I strongly suggest following the requirements of the OC’s by-laws to the t. Keep in mind that your neighbours are your neighbours and your better off keeping good relations as best you can.
Also, it is reasonable to provide good clear plans and information to the EC in relation to your proposed works. I have stopped counting the number of times I have seen an owner request permission to ‘just renovate their kitchen and bathroom’ and next thing you know, they are doing the work without any proper approvals or even exclusive use by-laws, let alone engineers advice on removing the wall between kitchen and lounge room, or even those owners who choose to create an extra bedroom from the study or an area of lounge room, without council approval. A lot of the time these requirements are there to actually protect your interests more so than to make it harder for you. What will you do when the OC is successful in obtaining stop work orders as you haven’t gone through the right process.
I recall when our neighbor decided to renovate their apartment, and they were not even living in it or leasing it for twelve months, they had removed the carpets first, so every pin drop was heard through the common wall, let alone the jack hammering and hammer drilling late at night. I’m sure they weren’t happy about me switching the power off in the main power box, and I don’t encourage this approach, but when neighbours won’t talk or listen about these matters there will be conflict, which is what everyone is trying to avoid in their own home.
Mr S
Phlebe,
Just because the Chairperson doesn’t attend meetings doesn’t mean you can’t hold the meeting, in fact you can. I would strongly suggest not stooping to the Chairperson’s level and continue doing things correctly. You may wish to either convene an EGM and put forward a special resolution to ‘sack’ the chairperson off the committee. If you are going to do this, you may want to ensure you have the numbers to support this approach.
You could take a similar approach as the chairperson and distribute information to all owners, keeping to the facts and truth, including that the chair is not doing the right thing.
A good strata manager will be able to assist you and the owners corporation in these matters, with advice regarding correct process and legal requirements. They may not want to be involved in the politics.
EC meetings are necessary for making decisions of the EC, while they do not need to be physical meetings, they would need to still be proper meetings, being notice provided to all owners of the motions (giving 72hrs notice of the meeting), allowing proper democratic process to occur, and if owners aren’t agreeing to the decisions to be made, opportunity to object.
Even paper meetings of the ec require proper notice as if the meeting were to be a physical meeting.
Mr S
Hi Pertovski,
I would suggest that your answer will be found in what the strata plan says. You need to find the definition of the stratum of your lot, as these planters could be completely within your lot.
Even still, the decision to not maintain common property or even to alter common property will require a special resolution at a general meeting.
I would suggest trying to establish what may be involved in what you may prefer to occur (scope and cost) and put that to the EC as a solution to the present situation.
Mr S
Hi All,
It is pretty simple really, you get what you pay for!
You will not get the champagne on the beer budget.If you go to your accountant and ask them to do your tax return, you can not expect them to through in financial planning at no cost.
It is important to get this right when selecting a strata manager to start with. Make it clear in your quote/tender request the frequency and standard required in your strata scheme’s financial reporting, as there is a significant range in services and pricing when it comes to strata management.
With the systems available these days, it is reasonable to expect regular quality financial reporting from a strata manager, but if you want the extras, expect to pay for it.
Mr S
May I suggest rather than being another problem in your strata scheme, be part of the solution. It has probably been an accumulation over a number of years of owners, occupiers not wanting to get involved that has led to the present state of the letter boxes.
Jump on the internet and locate several letter box installers and either email or phone them for a quote. If you email the ec or strata manager the three quotes and a recommendation they will thank you for doing the leg work.
I would also suggest that replacing the wooden letter boxes with new aluminum ones shouldn’t require a special resolution as it should be considered simple maintenance of common property.
Good Luck, Mr S
Dear All,
Smoke detectors step a little further outside the Strata Act, an as such when considering who is responsible for the fire safety measures within any building, you need to consider the responsibilities under the Enivornmental Planning and Assessment Act, which is the one that requires a good majority of buildings in NSW to complete an Annual Fire Safety Statement.Under the EPA act, the Building Owner (ie the Owners Corporation) has ultimate responsibility for maintaining the essential fire safety measures in the building.
Mr S
Hi guys,
Having first hand knowledge if the 'crash pad' case and the result, it is not as easy with regard to the issue of burdening owners for their tenants actions around parking on common property, however, you may want to have a look at including the lot owners in any particular by-law enforcement action with an action on the owner under s117 of the strata act.Maybe one of the strata lawyers may be able to advise on this course of action?
Mr S
Dear Jimmy,
You may wish to seek some further advice on your position reflected above.
From my experience most Strata Insurers will denie the claim for internal paint work or carpet within a lot, irrespective of the cause. This is because quite simply the OC’s insurance can not insurer property that is not common property.
This is much like if you were to have a car accident, each party claims on their on insurance which in turn pursues the party responsible.
Mr S
RSP,
No I have not heard of this idea, and you may want to get some engineering advice before you do this, as it would considerably weaken the slab. Keep in mind your obligations under section 116 of the act, which would require you to submit engineering certification regarding these proposed works.
I have seen an owner install a false floor within their apartment to accommodate the plumbing under the floor, but I understand that there is a minimum floor to ceiling height defined in the building code, so this could be an issue.
Mr S
Dear Jimmy & Oceanroom,
The OC has no responsibility to install double glazing if the is currently no double glazing.
As per section 62 of the act, the OC needs to maintain common property, being what was there when the building was built.
In comparison the OC can either resolve to add to common property, or permit you to add to common property, for the purpose of improving it, by a special resolution at a general meeting as per section 65A of the act, and may wish to pass a by-law to define who is responsible for the ongoing maintenance of such an installation.
If you are considering getting the OC to install double glazing, consider that the OC would need to be able to offer this to all owners and fund these works for all units (worst case scenario). Keep in mind the impact of this on your levies.
You may want to have a look at a product called Magnetite which I have seen used in several locations as a cost effective solution to double glazing of windows.
Mr S
You may also wish to have
Jimmy,
I note Fair Trading's response on this topic. It would be interesting to get their interpretaion on “Structural Cubic Space” and what this means?
Mr S
Jeremys & Jimmy,
I have had some experience in this area and would suggest going down this path with some real caution.
The owners can make a joint submission, but the OC has some issues in making this submission and spending funds on a matter not related to the common property of the owners corporation.
Similarly if individual owners each made submissions (considering they are rate payers) then council should pay attention.
Mr S
Hi RSP,
You will find that most of the pipes are contained within the walls, floor/ceiling space of the unit below or may be in a service duct, but you will need to locate these as a starting point to work out what needs to be done.
You will need to arrange a plan to be prepared showing what is currently in place and another showing what you intend to do. I would also suggest it would be prudent seeking an exclusive use by-law to be prepared, granting you the rights to do the works and defining responsibility to maintain, extending to the total joining of the apartment.
Mr S
Hi Tamara,
Unfortunately this is correct. The bathtub is considered to be lot property as it is deemed to be within the airspace of the lot.
While the building was a refurbished building the developer/builder would still have an obligation to provide home owners warranty on the works done by them in renovating the building. Owners are able to claim under the HOW scheme for building defects within 7 years against the builder, but this gets complicated.
Good luck.
Mr S
Henrietta,
Do you know if the dodgy renos were approved by the OC before they were done and if there was an exclusive use by-law passed and registered? This could be the key to who is responsible for fixing that particular issue. If the OC approved the works correctly then the OC should be protected and if the by-law is in place and places obligations on the lot owner to maintain, then if the owner refuses to fix, the OC may be able to enforce the obligations of the by-law through an application for an order through Fair Trading..In relation to the matter of providing for the tenants to have access to a bathroom, what ever happened to a sense of community, our neighbours were renovating their bathroom, so we welcomed their family to use our bathroom for about a week. Fixing a bathroom does not make a whole unit unusable… What would you do if you lived in a house and needed to do these works?
Mr S