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but they would only become a non-owner at the time of settlement. I don’t think the questioner was asking about someone wanting to stay on longer than that.
Our OC had an EC member who stayed until settlement of her unit sale, not for any suspect purpose but just to help the committee finish off various matters, even though she would not be staying to benefit from them.
Maybe for tax purposes. However, and I am not expert, I would think that the unit must at all times have an owner. The earlier owner is a member of the Owners Corporation until the moment the newer owner becomes a member of the Owners Corporation. So, when does the name on the title change? Isn’t that at settlement?
From a real estate site: “Property settlement is the legal process that is undertaken to transfer the ownership of a property to another person during a sale. … Both sets of representatives will sign all the necessary paperwork and then it will be forwarded to the respective title office in your state or territory. The day of the property settlement is also the day you receive the balance of the payment from the purchaser, and the sale is subsequently finalised to completion.”
I agree that until the unit has a new owner post settlement, the current owner remains a member of the owners corporation with all that entails, including continuing to have the functions and obligations of a committee member if they were elected to that position.
My understanding is that your liability insurance would cover you if you were found liable for someone’s injury due to a failure to maintain the facility in a safe condition. However, you could expect the cost of insurance to be considerably higher when you go to renew and have to disclose having been found negligent.
Aside from the insurance issue, the OC has to comply with the relevant strata act, which I am sure would include an absolute obligation to maintain the common property in Qld, the same as elsewhere.
In another post you mention having put several motions to an upcoming AGM but I don’t know if they were to do with the boat ramp.
Anyone can put a motion to a general meeting. In your situation, and if the committee was reluctant to propose funds for the boat ramp repairs, I would notify my intention to put a motion to amend the proposed budget to include the repair with an appropriate adjustment to the levy. A motion might include amending the sinking fund plan and its levy to include the repair.
If the motion were to fail, it might then be possible to seek an order from the state Tribunal to give effect to the failed motion on the grounds that objection is unreasonable. IE. The Tribunal does a merits review. The ACT act has an explicit provision for this but I don’t know if the Qld act does. If the Tribunal finds that your proposal should have passed on the grounds that the OC is obliged to maintain the common property and you had a realistic proposed budget for that and the committee can’t make a reasonable case for any alternative course of action, then the Tribunal may give the order you want because any alternative would be unreasonable due to the absolute maintenance obligation.
My impression from the ACT’s Tribunal is that they want you to try the democratic process first before bothering them.
I think it would not be unreasonable to ask the managing agent to distribute a short paper in support of your motions ahead of the meeting. You are not asking for a change to the now notified agenda. By getting the managing agent to distribute it, you are not going to run into any objections that you might encounter if you asked for the unit roll.
I would carefully stick strictly to explaining the merits of your motions, which would incidentally rebut the committee’s points, and avoid anything that could look personal. Conclude with all your contact full details and invite people to phone, visit or email you if they have any questions or comments. Even if nobody gets in touch, it demonstrates openness and willingness to communicate.
Is the ramp part of the common property? If so, the Owners Corporation has an absolute responsibility to maintain it. I don’t know about where your boundary is relative to high and low tide lines but if it was part of the original construction to have a boat ramp and if, in order to function it had to extend a bit past the boundary, then I would expect it is still your common property to maintain.
Sometimes committees can get spooked about costs. Where I am past committees had looked into and rejected replacing a particular gravel path with concrete even though it kept getting washed out, became at best uncomfortable and at worst a trip hazard, and kept needing to be fixed. When looking back over decades of minutes I found that every few years somebody suggested concreting it, had got a quote and then the committee of the day had baulked at the expense. Eventually, when I was treasurer, we fixed the path permanently, all regarded it as a big improvement, the cost was small compared with the overall budget, a matter of several 10s of dollars per unit, and nobody got upset.
On the other hand, is the boat ramp disused? If so, is that because nobody is interested or because it is in such poor shape? If people would like to use it, then put it in the proposed budget for the coming year to get the funding to get it repaired properly. If it would be better removed, then you would need to check your legislation for the class of resolution required for an OC to decide to not maintain (and remove) some bit of common property. Where I am, that would take a special resolution.
The best way to counter this is talk to people one-on-one well before the AGM and explain the purpose of your motions and how they would work. Encourage your neighbours to come to the meeting but be aware that some people are very conflict averse and may not show up if they think there will be anything approaching vigorous debate. Encourage these timid people to appoint you or an ally as their proxy.
I have learned that people often won’t read more than a paragraph or so but will listen to someone talking. Also people often don’t read meeting papers until the day of the meeting. So, you might counter the committee’s written position more effectively than you expect.
Make sure your proposals are consistent with the legislation. Nothing would shoot them down faster than being beyond the powers of a general meeting to decide.
Yep. JT’s note to all is what I would do.
Lizzie, “is there any come back on the owner who did the renovation without approval”. Here is an option before getting heavy. If the unapproved work was the same as the approved work, you could propose to amend the by-law and approval for the approved work to cover the unapproved work as well (or perhaps anyone wanting to do the same) on condition that the owner who paid $1500 is reimbursed half their costs by the owner who proceeded without approval. You could put this suggestion verbally at first to see what their reaction is.
You could suggest that the committee could put the proposal in writing if they are agreeable. Alternatively, the committee could write them a letter requesting that they do the whole process for retrospective approval, which would be on the owners corporation’s records and consequently could be found by any potential purchaser of the unit. Purchasers and their banks might be wary if they discover that the unit has unapproved alterations.
So, play nicely and it costs $750. Be difficult and it costs $1500 or potential difficulties with any sale of the unit they might have in mind.
If this is work due to an insurable event, ask for a copy of your insurance policy. I think there is usually an amount for temporary accommodation. I am not sure in the case of OC-funded repair and maintenance that requires you to move out. If you have a managing agent that manages lots of properties, they probably have some standard formula they recommend as reasonable so try asking them.
As a general principle, the remedy for anything that was not done correctly is to do things correctly later. So, whatever process should have been applied to your unit alteration could be done now to correct the situation. Depending on the details and the strata legislation in your state or territory and your particular owners corporation’s rules/by-laws/articles, that might require a general meeting resolution or just for the executive committee to minute its approval and give that you in writing or it might require a local council development approval as well.
Aside from hygiene and data security and reasonable casual access for friends watering the pot plants or even being offered a bed for a few nights, what happens if you injure your finger and return home with it in a bandage? What happens if the power goes out? There is a lot to be said for old fashioned keys!
Often installers of air-cons and similar devices push for installations that are most convenient for them rather than suiting the aesthetic or other preferences of the home owner or other members of an owners corporation.
In an owners corporation, your neighbours have a valid interest in the overall appearance of the buildings and there might be good reasons for them to prefer the unit in one place rather than another.
Every three years when we renew our management agreement, the proposed agreement is included with the AGM papers and there is a motion to agree to it. Any owner is entitled to inspect the owners corporations records. The agreement should be available. It is reasonable to change a small amount per page for copying.
It is bizarre that a solicitor’s request to see the agreement (on behalf of an owner) would be ignored.
The timing of some future expenses can be predicted with considerable accuracy while others are uncertain. Something that is likely to need maintenance about every 20 years might be scheduled for 7 years hence because it was last maintained 13 years ago. However, it might turn out to be opportune to get it done with other work at 5 years or it might be still in sufficiently good condition when you get to 7 years that you revise and update the plan to push that item out another 5 years.
It is more important to have an adequately funded plan that covers everything than to be overly pedantic about the detail. I would also recommend having an explicit ‘contingency’ component so that if all goes to plan, there will be some extra in the bank to help you cope if something unexpected happens. That could be an expense that was completely off anyone’s radar or it could be a known expense that suddenly needs to be brought forward.