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I am not sure what State you are in. I live in QLD where our Strata Manager’s annual contracts are renewed (or not) at each AGM.
If you want another Strata Management company then search around for two that have a good reputation and go and speak to them. Any competent company will be able to advise you on what you need to do to change companies.
Yes. You will need an item on the AGM Agenda.
If the chair lift will not be installed on common property and will be installed totally within your private Lot boundary then you have a very good chance of this installation being approved.
You may have an issue with drilling into the boundary wall that is common with your neighbour particularly if the wall is acting as a support for the weight of the chair lift and the occupant of the chair lift, however if you were to obtain a structural engineer’s report stating that the stair lift will not cause structural damage then this report should assist your approval application. Installing a chair lift on a common wall would be different from installing a picture hook!
This work could be classified as a Minor Renovation as you would not be making structural changes (i.e. not removing walls), you would not be changing the external appearance, you would not be impacting the waterproofing, and you would probably not need a DA.
A [s110] SSMA Minor renovation can be done with the approval of Owners Corporation by Ordinary Resolution of a Motion at a General Meeting. No by-law is needed.
In some instances Minor Renovations can be decided by a Strata Committee meeting if power has been delegated by the Owners Corporation to the Committee. Check your By-laws.
The approval process may need the owner to give details of the work. This may include:
- any plans of the work
- when the work will be carried out (times and dates)
- qualifications and details of the tradespeople who will do the work.
Your strata loan was taken out on behalf of the strata scheme as an entity so you, as a Lot owner, would probably not independently be able to opt out of the loan and repay your portion.
Some strata loans do not require early repayment fees. Check whether yours does.
The strata loan forms part of your levies. I personally have not heard of an owner having the ability to pay out their part of the loan as working out the differentiated levies would then be a problem.
The only solution is to submit a motion to the committee and the strata manager to include at the next general meeting that seeks to have the Lot Owners vote to have the strata loan repaid and wound up. Your scheme may need to raise a special levy to repay the loan and this too would need a motion and a vote.
Below is an extract from the Macquarie web site. Your loan may not be from Macquarie so it is best to seek answers directly from your strata loan provider.
https://www.macquarie.com/au/business-banking/campaigns/strata-improvement-loan
- There are no penalties for early repayment, except if the Strata Plan wants to repay a loan that has a fixed interest rate
- In that circumstance, the Bank would need to determine the fixed rate break costs (which depends upon a number of factors, including time to expiry and interest rate levels).
- The owners should keep in mind that these loans are not redrawable, so any principal paid early cannot be accessed at a later time – they would need to apply for additional funding.
Lannock have a similar response to whether an early re-payment can be made:
“Yes. Generally there are no penalties for early repayment, however, if you have taken an Advance at a fixed rate, then break costs may apply for that Advance.”
Yes. Your complaint is absolutely legitimate. The occupants above you are causing a nuisance to you.
Nuisance is covered under [s153] of the Strata Schemes Management Act. It may also be covered in your by-laws.
I would write to the Committee and the Strata Manager and outline your concerns. Mention [s153] and any relevant by-laws. Also mention that you have tried to reason with the occupants causing the nuisance but that this has not been successful. The onus will then be on the Committee and the Strata Manager to handle your complaint and sort out your problem.
If your scheme does not yet have a by-law about nuisance water then I would encourage you to suggest to the Committee that they undertake the proper process to create a by-law on this topic.
Examples of conditions may be: all pot plants on balconies must have a saucer and plants must not be over watered, no air conditioner condensate is to drip on balconies below, no hosing of balconies or balustrades – with only damp mops and damp cloths to be used for cleaning of balconies and balustrades, children’s water play activities etc are not to be drained onto balconies below.
STRATA SCHEMES MANAGEMENT ACT 2015 – SECT 153
Owners, occupiers and other persons not to create nuisance
153 Owners, occupiers and other persons not to create nuisance(1) An owner, mortgagee or covenant chargee in possession, tenant or occupier of a lot in a strata scheme must not:
(a) use or enjoy the lot, or permit the lot to be used or enjoyed, in a manner or for a purpose that causes a nuisance or hazard to the occupier of any other lot (whether that person is an owner or not), or
(b) use or enjoy the common property in a manner or for a purpose that interferes unreasonably with the use or enjoyment of the common property by the occupier of any other lot (whether that person is an owner or not) or by any other person entitled to the use and enjoyment of the common property, or
(c) use or enjoy the common property in a manner or for a purpose that interferes unreasonably with the use or enjoyment of any other lot by the occupier of the lot (whether that person is an owner or not) or by any other person entitled to the use and enjoyment of the lot.
<small><b>Note : </b>Depending on the circumstances in which it occurs, the penetration of smoke from smoking into a lot or common property may cause a nuisance or hazard and may interfere unreasonably with the use or enjoyment of the common property or another lot.</small>
(2) This section does not operate to prevent the due exercise of rights conferred on a developer by the operation of section 82 of the Strata Schemes Development Act 2015
Note : Division 1 of Part 6 contains provisions about the circumstances in which owners of lots may carry out work that affects common property.
Further to JT’s suggestion about amending your Motion at the General Meeting … the Department of Justice and Attorney General’s Office have a doc that may be helpful.
If you do an online search for the following information you can then download the PDF.
Office of the Commissioner for Body Corporate and Community Management
Online Training
Unit 2 – General meetings
Topic 05 – Amending motions and use of proxiesIt seems that you have done what is required.
Has the AGM Agenda been sent out yet?
I am guessing that the AGM Agenda includes your Motions?
If I was in your shoes I would wait it out and see what happens at the AGM.
Flametree – It is good that the Committee have listened to your concerns and are acting on some of them.
From memory you are in QLD – is that correct?
If you want something done in a particular way then it would probably be wise for you to independently obtain the quotes to undertake the work that you want and submit a Motion including the quote(s) for inclusion at the next general meeting. This will by-pass the Committee and its ‘negativity’. All of the owners in the body corp can then decide.
If you want landscaping done in a planned way then seek a quote from a landscaper(s) who will formulate a landscape plan that you then submit to the body corporate in a Motion. The plan could be implemented in a phased way if that is what is required and approved.
Each separate issue will require its own Motion.
If the Major Spending Limit for your scheme is set at $10,000.00 (which most in QLD are, unless this has be increased at a general meeting) and the cost of the works is greater than $10,000 (inclusive of GST) then you will need to obtain 2 quotes for your Motion(s).
This doesn’t guarantee that your ideas will be approved however as the lot owners may not resolve to undertake the work, regardless of your efforts.
I live in QLD and had a problem installing down lights in my ceiling as the ceiling was 1970’s ‘pop corn’ painted onto the slab.
In my renovation I dropped the ceiling slightly to cover the ‘pop corn’ and installed plasterboard. The new plasterboard provided a more modern and smooth surface and provided better sound insulation.
Had I dropped the ceiling to accommodate the down lights, then the ceiling would have been too low.
My electrician suggested the following lights, which look like and function like a down light. I was very happy with the end result. They suited a modern minimalist scheme. There are other similar brands and styles on the market.
Here is an ‘old’ case which may have some relevance.
http://www6.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/qld/QADT/2005/14.html
The defence to a complaint raised under the DDA is that providing access would cause an ‘unjustifiable hardship’ to the organisation or business. “These include cost, technical difficulties, use of the building and the effect the proposed changes might have on particular heritage features”.
These questions “can only be determined by the Federal Court or the Federal Magistrates Court”.
Is is therefore probably something that NCAT would not consider.
See more here:
The following legislation may be useful:
I haven’t had experience with this issue, however I would like to offer a suggestion.
Your strata scheme would probably have an annual fire safety check and an annual workplace health and safety check. I suggest you contact the people who undertake these checks and obtain their written assessment of the issue and any problems that it may cause for your building. These reports may help guide your next actions.
If your committee is almost inactive then you, as an owner, can obtain your own quotes and submit them as a Motion to the General Meeting. You will also need to submit an Explanatory Note of not more than 300 words with each Motion.
Depending on your scheme’s Spending Limit you may need to obtain 2 quotes.
You will have a deadline in which to submit the Motions by to enable them to be placed on the Agenda of the next General Meeting. Check with your SM.
See Strata News #223 in the following link for how to write a Motion: https://www.lookupstrata.com.au/nsw-explanatory-notes-motion-on-an-agenda/
If that fails then get yourself on the committee ASAP.
The bond should be passed as a by-law. A by-law requires a Special Resolution at a General Meeting, and also requires Registration BEFORE it can be enforceable.
If the OC has not yet voted to amend the by-law regarding the Bond then I would encourage you to try and dissuade as many people as possible from signing it.
An upfront fee of $10K sounds very excessive to me.
I agree with JT, if a by-law regarding the bond has already been correctly Passed and has been correctly Registered and you believe that it is excessive then you have the option to take this matter to NCAT based on “reasonableness”.
Incidentally, I live in Qld where monetary liabilities e.g. bonds are unlawful. The signing of a Letter of Indemnity to cover damage to common property suffices in Qld. If anything goes ‘pear shaped’ regarding damage to the common property or mess during a renovation then the body corp can pursue this through the Tribunal, or can undertake the work itself and then recover the cost from the relevant person.
I’m not sure of the legality of the approach of barring the contractor from the common property using trespass as the grounds for this bar.
The contractor is an ‘invitee’ of the owner and/or occupier.
If the contractor is an invitee then it is the owner and/or occupier who is responsible for their invitees’s behaviour as they are the people who, when purchasing the Lot, have agreed to be bound by the Act and agreed to be bound the by-laws.
The invitee i.e. the contractor, was not a party to that contract.
Lets give him a chance, JT! He looks like a decent bloke.
Here is an extract from his bio: Kevin Anderson was elected as the Member for Tamworth in 2010 after 17 years in the region working as a journalist, news anchor and communications professional.
We can all attest to the fact that journos and columnists can also be interested in and knowledgeable about strata. 😉