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Ah! OK. That makes more sense. I thought you were wanting to do something you had already paid the strata manager to do.
Why do you want to do the tax return? When I was treasurer of an owners corporation, I was very happy for the managing agent to do all the day to day handling of the accounts and tax matters and to confine myself to just satisfying myself periodically that all was in order.
Our owners corp gets an independent valuation done every 5-10 years and presents that to an insurer. I don’t recall the insurer ever rejecting the valuation. Between valuations, each year’s AGM resolves that the committee shall renew our insurance increasing the insured amount in line with the insurer’s recommendation. That recommendation is only ever a few % each year to reflect general increases in property value. After some years of just having % increases, we get another valuation done to ensure we have not drifted too far off course.
Perhaps advocate for a really nice central shared BBQ/picnic/pizza oven facility. Then people will get to know their neighbours and be less inclined to DIY on their own balconies. I have a conventional gas BBQ but I have not used it much since our OC got a picnic shelter with big tables and pizza oven.
Don’t know about NSW. In the ACT, our strata act says the committee chair is also the chair of the AGM unless unable or unwilling to do it, in which case the AGM has to elect a chair for the meeting. Without having read the NSW legislation, I would assume the old executive remains the executive until the AGM has conducted the election of the new committee. Once the result of the election is declared by the chair of the AGM, the new committee is the executive, except that the old chair would continue to chair until the end of the AGM.
Ray,
I am in the ACT but one of the questions I had for the electricity network operator here was about how to cater for the small set of units that could not be accommodated for EV charging in the manner proposed for 95% of our owners. We would need a new connection to the mains in a location away from all the others. It would require trenches, heavy duty cables and so on.
The response was that the network operator has a service obligation to supply whatever we felt we needed. That could get expensive and they are also entitled to recoup their costs. However, if a case can be made that they can reasonably anticipate that their costs will be eventually recouped through the network component of the additional retail electricity sales, then the up-front cost to us could be low or nil.
So, if your units are chronically undersupplied, even before considering EVs, then you might not necessarily be up for a large expense to get it fixed. It might take some ringing around, effort, writing and co-ordinating, but perhaps not impossible.
If others assert that it is OK to park in the visitor spaces, perhaps you could start parking there. Any time you anticipate a visitor, you can move your car back to its allocated space just in time for the visitor to arrive. If someone complains, well…
@JimmyT said:
Perhaps the smart move would be to establish protocols and by-law templates that would allow owners to install the necessary meters and cabling at their own expense.
This is one of the things my motion for our upcoming AGM seeks to do. In the ACT we have some different mechanisms so it is not exactly NSW-style by-laws required. On top of that, our particular ‘Units Plan’ has an unusual parking set-up that interacts.
@JimmyT said:
…I am sorely tempted to turn the above information into a handy guide for the electrically inclined.Feel free to write the first draft and I’ll give you comments.
I write as one who has driven an electric car since 2009. Our household now has two cars, both plug-ins.
First up, I would like to caution against having one or a few relatively fast charging outlets unless that really is the only possibility. A level 3 ‘rapid’ charger that is almost fast enough to approach being used like a petrol pump, say 50kW or more, is really expensive. A slower but still fast-ish shared level 2 option could be a recipe for conflict. What do you do when you need to charge but somebody has parked in the charging spot and can’t be found, perhaps for days? Do you really want to arrange car shuffles with your neighbour at midnight so you can both get a charge?
What you really want as an EV driver is assured access to a charging spot in your own allocated parking space. It does not matter if this slow charging. Even an ordinary 10A power point is sufficient, though often the slow charging cord supplied with vehicles has a 15A plug. My vehicles routinely charge at 6 to 10A and this has been just fine for nearly a decade. Let’s say you can plug in to a 15A powerpoint and charge at 3kW. Four hours is enough top up to add 50km of range. An ordinary power point is enough to support virtually all local driving patterns using overnight or daily charging where one routinely parks. ‘Rapid’ ‘level 3 DC’ charging (such as the NRMA is installing) is for extended trips out of town. Assured access to slow level 2 charging where you routinely park is much more useful than uncertain access to a faster outlet. It is a simple change of habit to plug in and ‘top up’ routinely rather than ‘fill up’ intermittently.
As it happens, I am proposing a motion to our AGM in a few weeks time on EV charging. The motion seeks to put in place all the various permissions and so on to enable EV charging to be gradually added as required at the expense of individual unit owners. Our situation is particularly complex.
Some could charge from their own units in their own attached carports. They are ready to go with the simple addition of a power point wired back to their own meter. Plenty will have a power point in their carports already. If they think they need faster charging, they can have the required hardware installed, though I am sure they will come to realise it was a waste of money.
A further set of units could charge in their allocated spaces on common property from an outlet wired back to their own meter because their allocated parking space is sufficiently close to the unit. For this they need permission (part of my motion) to have a cable installed to traverse a few meters of common property.
Most of the remaining units have allocated spaces in shared carports on common property where the carport has an owners corporation meter cabinet adjacent with 3-phase wiring in place but only a light load actually used. The spare capacity is sufficient to allow several 15A or 20A outlets on each of the phases, enough to supply each of the 5 to 12 units that use the adjacent parking area but it is too far to run cable back to their units. For these we will need sub-metering so the OC can bill the relevant units. Another part of the motion is the OC agreeing to provide a utility service to these units.
A handful of units have allocated parking that is neither close to their unit’s meter nor an OC meter cabinet. For those we will have to work with the local network operator to find a solution. They have a service obligation to provide what is needed. They are also entitled to recoup their installation costs. They tell me that if they can reasonably expect to recoup those costs through the network component of the electricity retail sales, then the upfront cost to those unit owners could be low or nil. The motion states that the OC will co-operate with the unit owners and the network operator to find a satisfactory outcome for these few units.
A further wrinkle is that the Australian Energy Regulator regards what we are proposing for behind OC meters to be an ’embedded network’ requiring a ‘network exemption’. The network distribution and retailing of electricity is regulated by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER). The AER has responded to a query and is of the view that “EV charging does not constitute the sale of energy under the National Energy Retail Law”, which “implies that no retail exemption is required …” They do not regard sales of electricity to vehicles to be retailing since the supply is to a vehicle, not premises. “… However, there would be a requirement to obtain relevant network exemptions …Independent advice should be sought on the interpretation of the Guideline to which type of exemption and exemption category may apply …” From the AER’s published guidelines, categories of network exemptions “include situations where electricity supply is incidental to the main purpose of a business, such as networks within … apartments … They are generally motivated by considerations other than profit… Situations that deemed exemptions apply to include selling or supplying electricity to … electric vehicle charging stations”. To cover what might be required, the motion includes “The OC will take advice on the category of network exemption required.”
A difficulty with retro-fitting is the chicken and egg problem. Will people want to spend money on an EV charging solution when no-one has an EV, but who will get an EV if they can’t charge it where they park?
It is worth understanding something of how an Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) outlet works. It negotiates with a vehicle to say how much current the on-board charge can take from an outlet. While ordinary ‘dumb’ power points are sufficient for now (used with a portable EVSE charge cord), an upgrade is to install ‘smart’ hard-wired EVSE outlets that communicate with each other and the vehicles. These can initially tell the attached vehicles to only charge at a low rate (as low as 6A) when many vehicles are attached and charging at the different outlets. As some vehicles finish charging or unplug, the EVSEs can tell the remaining vehicles that they may now charge at higher rates. By the time there are only a few vehicles left charging, the last will be told they can charge at some maximum rate (say 32A). Such networked EVSEs can also record what they have supplied at each outlet for electronic billing.
Agree with LP. I have been the OC representative in the ACT’s Tribunal several times. I have no legal training. It was not so hard for straightforward matters. We got a lawyer for one matter where the stakes were much higher, there were multiple respondents and rather more complexity.
Parking spaces that comply with Australian Standards may need to be wider if there are impediments such as bollards.
Otherwise, I agree with JT. If you know who the usually empty space belongs to, perhaps they will let you park there most of the time.
As there are only two lots, anything you agree on can be formalised with a unanimous decision. With this very high level of resolution possible, could you both agree to grant exclusive use of half of the common property each. i.e. to formalise the back yards as being separate and private etc. You could agree that the fence is a shared responsibility etc.
Why worry about the legality of the document? Why put time and effort into arguing about it. It looks like it will expire soon enough anyway. Find a new manager and engage them to take over from the apparent end date in 2018 of the current agreement with the current manager.
Agreements often have clauses favouring the manager requiring considerable notice if they are not to be reengaged. Rather than arguing about whether that does or does not apply to the end of a contract period, just give them notice now.
The ACT Unit Titles (Management) Act 2011 does not say a lot. “Sch.2.1 The executive committee of an owners corporation must— (a) keep minutes of its proceedings…” does not give a lot of detail.
Part f says: “…keep proper records and books of account in relation to—(i) the corporation’s assets and liabilities (including all amounts owing to and by the corporation)”
Perhaps this impeding expense was a ‘liability’ but perhaps this just means invoices already presented that have not been paid yet.
“If an owners corporation fails to comply with this section, each executive member of the corporation at the time of the failure commits an offence.”
Legal advice might be in order.