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There’s a lot to unpack here. But @Ziggy you seem to be expecting too much from your building’s strata committee and strata manager (assuming there is one), and from the other owners.
The SC cannot do much, if an owner breaks a Special By-law (whatever that is in your building?). They can issue a Notice to Comply, which they seem to have done. Their next step is to go to the Tribunal to get an Order for that owner to comply, which involves mediation. So you can write to the SC secretary and strata manager, requesting that they do this. They probably can. But it will take months for this to get resolved, so your stress at the SC inactivity, if I’m interpreting the gist of your message correctly, is somewhat unnecessary.
Yes, the SC can authorise the spending of $15k (depending on what state you are living in). The SC IS the owners corporation, and they act as the OC in the day-to-day management of the building. A bathroom waterproofing failure typically costs $30k to fix, so repairs and maintenance can involve this amount of money.
The SC should give notice of their meetings, (depending on the state) but there are ways to do this – which can involved a notice on the building’s notice board 3 days prior to the meeting. But you can access the agenda and minutes of all meetings, and you should do so. It is better to interact with the SC in writing, to the secretary and strata manager, and they can add items you feel are important to the agenda of the next meeting. Note that owners not on the SC have limited rights to speak at meetings, depending on the state you live in – in NSW you can attend SC meetings but cannot speak without the chairman’s permission.
And each state has procedures to filling the roles and positions on the SC when a member resigns or is no longer capable of being a member. Generally, that involves the SC members taking action themselves, and does not involve the wider group of owners.Repairs just requite an ordinary resolution, which is 51% or more of the unit entitlements, while improvements require a special resolution which is a majority for, and less than a quarter voting against.
So it can be tricky, if you want to replace existing features with better ones – is that a repair or an improvement?
It’s best to get quotes that are specifically for repairs, and even if the new version is better, then they can be considered as repairs. Repairs can be paid from the Administration Fund, while improvements are paid from the Capital Works Fund – if owners are investors who are renting out the Units, then this will matter too – since these are treated differently as the type of tax deductions they can claim (ie, depreciation over years or an immediate deduction).If you get 2 builders to put together a full repair program with costings and options, and present them at a general meeting, which say that the repairs are urgent and necessary to preserve the building. These are attached to the agenda, so any purchaser will see this in a future sale, from the strata search. So you have an argument that their Units are unsaleable, or sellable at a discount, because the building needs expensive repairs. So the current owners need to get on with it… Or else they end up with Units they cant sell, and which are losing value as the building degrades. If all else fails go to the Tribunal for an Order to carry out the repairs and raise a special levy to do so.
See section 81 of the Strata Schemes Management Act. (4) If the owners corporation is subsequently faced with other expenses it cannot at once meet from either fund, it must levy on each owner of a lot in the strata scheme a contribution to the administrative fund or capital works fund, determined at a general meeting of the owners corporation, in order to meet the expenses.”
Note the word “must” – if the OC lacks money to carry out its duties, as approved at a general meeting, then the OC must raise a special levy to fund them.
So the AGM agenda should have either a motion to raise the regular levies to meet those expenses, or alternatively or additionally, have a motion to raise a special levy to fund the unexpected costs.
If the owners refuse to fund them, by voting down the motion, then you (or other owners) can apply for an Order at NCAT to make this happen.As Jimmy points out, it isn’t hard (after recent amendments to the Act) to use money from both accounts, to carry out a job, and not reimburse the amounts exactly, but to swap some money from one account to the other. But if not reimbursed exactly, the Owners need to approve this within 3 months at a general meeting. A building might ignore the 3 month deadline if they believe the owners would approve this anyway, at the next AGM say – especially if the amount in question is small relative to the overall financial position of the building.
Also, the use of both accounts might be valid. Repairs are generally paid for from the Administrative fund. But improvements are generally paid for from the Capital Works fund. So, for example, if a window is damaged and replaced, and it was an old window without safety glass, the new window must have safety glass, which can be considered as an improvement, so (partially) a CW expense. Or if the building’s front door is replaced with a better one, then some of the cost could, or perhaps should be a CW expense, the proportion depending on the replacement/improvement factor.
And no-one seems to be too worried about using the “right” fund – the main issue is with investors, who have different tax claims whether there a Admin/CW source – they care! But generally only if the amounts are significant when spread among lot owners.
In your case, it may be a better solution to propose a motion a the next AGM (or an amendment to the motion setting the amounts of levies), to increase the CW levy, and perhaps reduce the Admin levy correspondingly.We don’t need to overthink this. The Strata Management Act and Regs require “full and accurate” minutes for meetings, and also that the secretary should incorporate a motion to confirm the minutes of a previous meeting. While it is best practice to actually pass a motion that the previous minutes are confirmed, a failure to do so does not make the minutes invalid, though it might open them up more easily to be challenged.
The minutes are a record of the decisions taken by the Owners Corporation. There will be problems if the OC fails to make decisions about matters it is responsible for. There are also problems if the OC makes decisions (and minutes them), but fails to act on those decisions. The two types of problems are essentially the same. Whether the minutes are confirmed would not matter. So any strata committee member, or owner, who thinks that not confirming the minutes will alter the extent of the problem, is deluding themselves. And opening them up to a legal action for negligence in managing the building.Fire safety in strata – a very, very vexed issue, in my experience. This is how I think it works (but I could be quite wrong):- Modern strata buildings will have a fire safety “Schedule”, which lists all the fire safety measures for the building, and which were specified in the building code at the time the building was constructed. These measures listed in the Schedule are all features that the OC needs to arrange to file an Annual Fire Safety Statement (AFSS) about. The AFSS confirms the measures listed in the Schedule are all being property maintained and are working satisfactorily. Your local Council, and the NSW Fire service get copies of the AFSS and check it is being lodged, and fire professionals need to inspect these measures and certify they are all good. Check with your Council for a copy of the Schedule for your building, if there happens to be one.
Older buildings may not have a Schedule. If so, then they don’t have to do anything about an AFSS, but they still have a duty to maintain any fire safety measures the building might have. Your local Council is gradually going through the strata buildings in their area, and issuing a fire safety upgrade Order to those buildings lacking a Schedule. Those buildings that get an upgrade Order then have to have a fire safety specialist prepare a report of what the building needs to do in order to bring their fire safety measures up to the current building code. Then Council will review the report, and usually issue the Order with a deadline for the building to comply, making them do renovations to upgrade all their fire safety equipment and so on. Those reported fire safety features must be listed in the Schedule, and from then on the AFSS must be filed annually.
Council are issuing such Orders according to some arcane system, but any fire emergency in a building without a Schedule will likely trigger the process to have Council issue an upgrade Order. I’ve heard that a resident or owner in a building without a Schedule can make a big enough fuss at Council, to also trigger the Order… Probably, it would be a good idea to meet with the Council’s fire safety officer or engineer, to discuss your building, and to ask what Council would need to issue that Order? If you were to get a report done, by a properly qualified fire expert, outlining the serious safety problems, which you provide to the Council’s fire safety officer, then that could also trigger an Order, too. The NSW Fire Service might also be involved in triggering a fire safety upgrade Order for a building without a Schedule, but I’m not sure how.
But be aware that your neighbors will likely not be happy with you, if you succeed in triggering a safety upgrade Order, because of the cost involved of bringing the building’s fire safety measures up to code. Keep in mind that the whole building must be brought up to code, and that you can’t pick and choose, such as to just do your Unit, or just do some items like the floor area, and not the rest. It’s everything, for the whole building. So save up your money for the inevitable special levies of hundreds of thousands of dollars, quite possibly.
A smarter approach, is to get your strata committee and other owners on-side, and decide that an Order is inevitable sooner or later, so it will be much better for your building to take the initiative. Get the report, but approach the Council on your own initiative with a well thought out plan for the upgrade. Since you are initiating it, you can plan the renovations and upgrade over a longer period, and at your own convenience. Rather than responding to at Council Order to carry out an upgrade over a short period, without much say in it.
Good luck. And here’s hoping the Order isn’t triggered by a serious fire in the meantime!
You need to check your by-laws, to see which by-laws (if any) this behavior is breaching. Some buildings have by-laws that restrict how the parking lots are used (ie, just to park a vehicle). In some buildings the parking lots are owners property, in others, they are common property, and commonly, if common property there may be an exclusive use by-law registered that has a result that the common property parking bay becomes the owner’s property. It’s complicated.
The Owners Corporation has more say in how the area is used, if it is common property. But what can be done will depend on the actual wording of a by-law. (You can also consider getting a new by-law adopted to regulate the activity – see a strata lawyer about this, if you are interested, and not adverse to spending money on that.)
The best approach is to make a noise complaint. An owner cannot damage the amenity of other owners to enjoy their property (I’m paraphrasing), so just like someone smoking with the smoke penetrating your Unit, or playing loud music to upset your amenity, you would have a reasonable chance to get an order to prevent this. But you need evidence on the harm being done to you, not just a complaint. Maybe talk with a strata lawyer?
This seems the perfect opportunity for the SC to shop around for an alternative lift maintenance company. The threat does seem overblown, and would be a credible excuse for breaking your existing contract. Get two or three more quotes for your lift maintenance, with the emergency phone upgrade included, and then ask your existing provider to match the best offer, or switch to a new provider, who will no-doubt help with the transition. (Our building recently changed across to Hamilton Lifts, who gave us a good deal and have given good service, so they might be included as one of the companies you might want to talk to.)
I think the crux of the “Cooper” case is that the OC must demonstrate actual, real world, interference with the amenity of other residents. In other words, by-laws that ban any pets because they might create a problem are invalid. But pet by-laws that allow for the removal of pets that actually do create a problem are valid.
So, if you keep a pet, and then the OC takes action to uphold their by-law against you, they will fail unless they have evidence that your pet is creating a real world nuisance.
The argument that some other owners don’t like pets, or that pets are dirty would not hold up, without evidence that an owner is terrified of dogs (say) or that your pet pooped on the front lawn of the building (say). Even then, the nuisance has to be a reasonable one. A one-off incident probably would not count, and they would need evidence of a persistent problem.
In the decision from @TheHood the key terms are “actual unreasonable interference” and “a particular animal in the absence of satisfactory evidence of unreasonable interference by that animal with neighbourhood amenity”. I’m not sure what the case was about exactly (maybe provide a copy of the decision?), but if it was just to invalidate the pet by-law, I can understand why that lost.
An OC may have a by-law that allows pets to be removed. But they can only do that for a specific pet, for specific reasons based on clear evidence of mischief, that interferes with at least one other resident’s enjoyment of their property, with evidence of that required.
And the only way that can work, is for the pet to be in residence in the building already. So a pets by-law generally can’t easily prevent a pet being kept on the property initially, but once it is there, if it makes a nuisance of itself, then the by-law can allow for its removal.
An exception is where any pet coming on to the property must always create a nuisance – eg large dogs in a building designed for elderly or infirm residents, or cats in buildings that are havens for native birds or beside a national park.
We have had a similar issue, and have the toilet door code displayed on the Notice board (located inside a foyer, so only visible to residents and visitors in our security building).
But what you are doing is problematic under strata law. The toilet is common property, so all owners and residents have the right to use it equally. You can set rules (eg, door code only available to workers on request), but those rules must be in a by-law registered and updated as a special resolution at a general meeting. You cannot legally discriminate against some owners, or just give a small group of owners rights that you deny to others. In strata, it’s all in, or all out, no exceptions.
Similarly, shutting down an asset of the building, by closing the toilet, requires a special resolution at a general meeting of all residents. A special resolution needs a majority of owner to vote for it, but fails if a quarter (ie 7) owners vote against it. You might be lucky, to not get 7 owners not to oppose the motion, but in the future some owners will get annoyed to see a toilet they can’t use, and will agitate for its reopening. Note that if you have a swimming pool or gym or the like then you might need to make a toilet available under other legislation, I believe. You development application might also specify the toilet is required…
My suggestion is to create a by-law for its use. Such as the door to have a coded lock, the code to be changed yearly, and to be made available to the strata manager, office holders of the strata committee, and any owner who requests it, with a good reason. Or perhaps to display the code on the building notice board only visible to residents. Also, this is a good opportunity to consider installing CC TV cameras. We have them and they record the common area outside the toilet, so anyone using the toilets is recorded. A notice that there is surveillance, will improve resident’s behavior generally, in our experience. Plus it can be used to identify vandalism, if you are lucky with catching when it occurs.
I’m not sure the reasoning above is valid? This is the provision:-
“(4) Polls – A poll may be demanded immediately before or after a vote decided by a majority in number has been taken. The demand for a poll may be withdrawn by the person who made it.”
The key phrase is “…immediately before or after..”. You need to call for a poll actually when the vote is taken, and not request a blanket poll vote ahead of the meeting. So at the meeting, each time there is a vote, you need to ask for a poll. I think the owners at the meeting can vote to permit that? In any case, holding a poll will slow down the voting a lot – the strata manager has to key in the votes to a spreadsheet, and identify everyone according to their lots, and lot entitlement. If the strata manager does not have the lot entitlements available (unlikely but possible), then they may need to defer the vote to another meeting. Since you are paying the strata manager to conduct the meeting, this delay will cost the OC more for the extra time involved, and if the result is not changed, that will not make the other owners happy, nor will the extra time taken up by the meeting.
In practice, most voting is done by a show of hands, according to the lots, and if the result is contentious, and the poll might change the result, then one is called and used. But annoying the other owners and the strata manager by wasting their time and adding to the effort for no good reason is not a good idea in general…It sounds like you want to upgrade the building’s common property, to manage the access to that “common property” yard area that seems to be adjacent to Lot … That upgrade seems worthwhile, and so you (and the other interested and cooperative owners) should get together and draft a suitable motion to put to a general meeting. Depending on the level of support and the building’s finances, it may be helpful to get some quotes from builders, to provide options and cost estimates. For example you could fit locks to prevent access to the common property yard, apart from authorised persons (and there are special security ABLOY locks that only meter readers and electricians have a master key, for instance). Or you could install locked cabinets just around the meters and valves. Or decide to use the area for something worthwhile for the building, like a vegie garden, or compost bins….
Your strata manager can help draft a motion, or have a go yourselves. Propose the best option, or a choice of a couple of options, along with the quotes and a budget at the general meeting of all owners. The owners can then approve, with a majority vote, but you may need to increase your levies or raise a special levy if you have insufficient funds, and include that in the general meeting motions, if so.
The second step is to review your by-laws, and amend or add some to administer that area. For example you could add a by-law that does not permit access by residents and owners and others to that area, unless they have reason. But back that up with locks, and a by-law can restrict access to the key to just office holders, or 2 strata committee office holders together, if one alone may not solve the problem.This is a serious problem. Under QLD strata law it is mandatory to insure the strata building. If you don’t get your building insured, then you are breaking the law. If something happens to your building, then you will be in real trouble, and if your building is destroyed or damaged, by fire, flooding or a cyclone, all common in QLD, then you could lose everything.
There are several insurance brokers, so you should approach another one, for them to see if they can get your building a policy. But an unresolved dispute that has festered for years is liable to not attract much interest, and what offers you might get will be very very expansive.
You need to resolve that dispute! Get the owners together and fix it. That may mean going to the QCAT:-
https://www.qcat.qld.gov.au/case-types/community-living-and-body-corporate-disputes/body-corporate-dispute-process
Get advice from your strata manager. Or if your building doesn’t have one, or the one you have is useless, then get a good one. Or (slightly tongue in cheek), sell up, if you can!As a strata issue, this could be treated as a capital works upgrade of the facilities of the body corporate, like as if the body corporate were to replace the driveway to all Units. As such the normal laws apply, and probably requires the owners to approve the expense at a general meeting. (It would in NSW – I’m guessing it’s the same in Victoria). It would be paid from the sinking/capital works fund, and a special levy might be needed if the body corporate doesn’t have sufficient for that. If you don’t want this upgrade to go ahead, start lobbying your neighbours. Although consider that this upgrade will add to the value of your property (ie, tenants will want good internet access or the resale value of your Unit would be better with this too.)
Owners can submit a motion for the agenda of a general meeting, so you should do so (and find out when the Annual General Meeting is due). You request to add that motion must be made before the Agenda is prepared and sent out (which is commonly 3 weeks before the AGM date).
The agenda motion you should word to require yes/no responses:- as a guide, something along the lines,
“That the owners corporation resolves to:
(a) have the strata manager engage the builder [NAME] carry out an inspection of the roof of all villas, and provide a report of their current condition, within 1 month of this meeting, and provide the report to all owners,
(b) if the report determines that any roof needs repairs, then have the strata manager arrange at least 2 quotes from qualified roof repairers, specifying the work required for any repairs, and the a quote of costs, according to each villa, and in total, within 3 months of the report being received,
(c) call a general meeting within 1 month of the 2nd of these quotes being received, with agenda motions to (i) authorise repairs, (ii) select and authorise a repairer to carry them out, and (iii) determine if our current levy receipts will fund these repairs, or authorise a special levy to be used to fund the repairs, and if so, to (iv) authorise the owners corporation to raise that special levy for an appropriate amount.”It sounds like the strata manager is procrastinating, for whatever reason. You should therefore propose a motion with time limits specified, so he has to proceed relatively quickly. You need yes/no votes on all parts, so you need to get the other owners on side ahead of time. Note that raising a special levy is an ordinary resolution, so requires a 51% vote in favour to pass (and the vote is counted by unit entitlement, not by lots, although a lot vote might have the same result), of owners present. At the meeting, the owners can amend motions, so you can adjust the fine points, but the amendments can’t be too substantial, so make sure all the important issues are covered…
And if the motion is voted down by the other owners, then you may need to go to the Tribunal for an order. So get your fellow owners on side, and do some politicking, ahead of time, to get this done quickly and easily.