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Hi, So read about your issues, believe me I know how frustrated you must be. I was also unlawfully and incorrectly denied the right to self nominate for the Strata committee at the AGM, and again it was the Strata Manager who said I was not allowed to self nominate. The only ‘punishment’ for the SM’s error this was an “education session” from Dept of Fair trading.
I also lived in a small block of only 6 units. The outcome was long winded and led to the other two members of the committee – but mainly the secretary, disparaging me to the other owners, this meant that year after year it became impossible for me to get a spot on the committee, despite being the only resident occupier in the block. Thank heavens proxy harvesting was banned so it is not as easy for one person to do this anymore. I took my case to NCAT and the Adjudicator stated that I had been adversely affected by not being able to self nominate. Maybe you could cite this case in your dealings with the SM and the committee?
See Paragraphs 30 and 39
Hi there, I am the person mentioned in case Pamela Williamson v Owners Corporation Strata Plan 7348 [2015] NSWCATCD 65 at [39]). I would like to add that this decision was made due to an AGM being conducted incorrectly, not a Strata Committee meeting.
During the time I was dealing with this particular Strata Committee , the members of which have since sold up and moved on, they would always hold “paper” SC meetings that meant no-one could attend and observe. This seems like an underhanded way to have a meeting where contentious issues are disscussed and voted on.
I was hoping when the Strata Laws were reviewed the issue of “Paper” meetings would be addressed and changed. I realise Paper Meetings are useful for mundane strata issues such as voting on minor repiars and maintenance, but they shouldn’t be used be used for serious matters.
Sorry to say, I think you may find that your Strata Committee will resort to having Paper Meetings from now on, which is a very effective way to avoid scrutiny.
Another reason for the increased water bill could be residents washing their cars, and inviting non residents / friends to wash their cars on your property as well. This could especially be the case if your complex has a designated car wash bay.
David2708, I agree, I know it sounds harsh and snobbish, but the look of clothes hanging all over balconies is a bad look. So long as the washing cannot be seen and whatever drying rack is being used is below the height of the balcony I don’t see a problem, however there are many smart apartment blocks being built with glass balconies that are spoilt once most of the occupants being owners or tenants start to hang their washing on the balconies.
Hi Catch 22, another thing your friend should know is that if there is no Bylaw in place for the installation of the air-con she may be asked by the OC to pay for the drafting and registering of the By law which could cost around $500 depending on how much your legal fees are.
I recently had an issue with the wish to install air-con (one owner had already installed an unauthorised system without a By law being place)
My request to have a By law for the air con to cover all 6 units in the block was voted down at an EGM (with harvested proxies) without explanation from the EC. They instead voted (absurdly) for a By law to be drafted which applied only to the one offending unit.
I really think that the EC/OC did not understand what I was asking for, and seemed to think (according to their submissions) that I was trying to get the rest of the owners pay for my air conditioning!! I took the issue to NCAT and won, and much to my surprise, had a costs order awarded in my favour too. I assume that the Tribunal member assessed sensibly that to deny me the opportunity to install air conditioning was unreasonable.
Seeing as the installation of my air con was part of a legal battle I wanted to install it properly with all the appropriate approvals and also had to pay $400 for a DA with my local council. It is now installed (as of Monday) and working very well.
Please warn your friend there may be some extra costs involved, apart from the earlier purchase and installation of the air-con system. I think it will be worth it to fess up and get on with surviving the current heatwave.
The only way to get a good unbiased strata report, which has no conflict of interest is for a potential purchaser to personally carry out the strata roll inspection.
This is something my partner and I have done on numerous occasions over the past five years. Each inspection only cost approximately $33, and apart from the inconvenience of taking an hour or so off work was worth it every time.
Inspecting the strata roll, and in particular minutes of past meetings and correspondence gave us a clearer indication of the “community” we were potentially buying into, and being able to ascertain issues such as control freaks on the EC ………Or at the other end of that spectrum; if the OC just didn’t care about their property.
Of course if the strata records are poorly kept then some information could be missing, but anomalies such as meetings being convened, but no minutes produced, or dubious special levies being raised could be scrutinized.
The time and multiple amounts of $32 we have spent were well worth it, and we believe that many a bullet has been dodged by us NOT buying into a strata due to discoveries we made during a strata inspection.
Hi there, your penultimate paragraph regarding a special levy and the rescinding of the contract if the levy is more than 1% of the purchase price is pertinent in my situation.
We had an EGM recently when there were two units in the block that were in the process of being sold, exchange had taken place but settlement was not complete.
As a potential purchaser I received the contracts for both of the properties, each one had in their contracts at clause 23.18 that if an EGM was convened in the intervening time between exchange and settlement that the prospective purchasers must be informed in order to attend the EGM or send a proxy.
This was particularly important for these two purchasers because the EGM was convened solely to vote on whether legal fees should be paid by the raising of an urgent special levy which would cost approximately $3,000 for each unit.
Neither of the two new purchasers or their representatives were present at the EGM and when I questioned the owners present as to whether they had been informed all I received in reply were blank expressions, and the OC’s lawyer stating that the contracts I had in my possession were not the executed contracts, although I doubt that clause 23.18 would have been removed from both contracts on settlement.
I have asked the new purchasers and they say they knew nothing of the meeting except for receiving the minutes after the fact and being receipt of a levy notice from the Strata Manager stating they had to pay the special levy within a few weeks.
It does not seem right that the outgoing owners can vote at an EGM in favour of a motion for the payment of a special levy which will not be paid for by them, especially when the new owners had nothing to do with the reason for the legal fees being payable in the first place.
Also, the holding of the AGM was delayed (by the outgoing EC members, one of whom was a seller) for at least one month past the usual annual date, which in the past has been at the end of June. (I tired to find out when the very first AGM for my strata plan was held, in order to ascertain the anniversary date, but being an older property the records were unavailable).
Having the AGM very late in July meant that the budget for the quarterly levies was not approved by the OC, and therefore no levy notices were sent for payment on 1st July. The notice for the new quarterly levies was sent after the AGM stating that the instalment for the first quarter of the year was payable on 1st October instead of 1st July.
Once again the previous owners got away with not having to pay their quarterly levies because settlement on both properties took place in early September, and both the new purchasers (who happen to be new to strata) told me that they did not have an adjustment on their final sale prices to take this into account.
What recourse do the new owners have in order to claw back some of the extra levies, they have had to pay?
I would check first to ascertain if these residents are tenants or owners. It might be easier for the Strata Manager to send a letter to advise a tenant to toe the line rather than an owner.
I’ve always found that including pictures in the letter – with a big red tick indicating the correct behaviour and a big red cross on a picture denoting bad behaviour helps if there are language problems getting a written message across.
Also as stated – check your By laws. They may state that permission and/or a new By-law has to be in place in order to change the use of a garage from normal “residential” use to commercial if you feel that they are operating a quasi commercial operation from their garage/s.
hi there, please correct me if I’m wrong but I was under the impression that 14 days notice is required for an AGM, but only 7 days for an EGM. Notices for both these type of meetings must be sent to everyone on the strata roll whether that’s by post or email, placing on the notice board is not mandatory (as it is for an EC meeting) but always a good idea to use the notice board so no one can say they didn’t get the notice.
I’d go to small claims court, it is notoriously difficult to get a monetary claim through NCAT, and the first step of going to NCAT (after you’ve applied to dept of fair trading for mediation, as you have to do) is to apply for an Ncat Adjudicator’ order, an Adjudicator does not have the power to awards costs of any type even if a decision was handed down in your favour. You would have to go to the next step of applying for an NCAT Tribinal order and get a favourable decision there before you could make any claim for costs through NCAT.
Apply for a penalty order, this automatically goes to the NCAT tribunal, where a decision is made at a hearing in front of a tribunal member rather than an Adjudicator. If the decision at the tribunal is also in your favour you can ask for costs, which you cannot get from an Adjudicator’s order. This might force the EC / Owners to take notice.
Great writing Jimmy T.
Despite some of the strata issues I’ve had recently which were not with residents but absent investors, I can still see the benefit of living in a well run strata complex.
Sure, there is the noise issue such as the much lamented night time toilet visits of the insomniacs who live in the unit above, but then when I’m feeling irked listening to the nocturnal tinkles I get a lovely sense of security knowing that if something major should happen to my home, i.e. the roof collapsing, or a sink hole opening up in the driveway. The cost of repairing them will be paid for by everyone, not just me.