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Re the question of policy vs by-laws, I understand that there is a middle ground. A by-law is created and approved at an AGM/EGM by the Owners Corporation that allows for specific limited rules to be set by the Strata Committee at their meeting, and changed also at the Strata Committee level if required.
An example of this may be the fee charged for something such as a security key. If the price was enshrined in a by-law, then to increase the price say every five year the by-law would have to be replaced. Another example may be the process to be followed for moving in and out. While 80% of people will happily follow the guidance they are given by a Strata Committee / Strata Manager / Building Manager, there is the 20% or so that need the guidance to be enforceable, or they will willfully ignore and inconvenience all around them.
Have you seen a copy of the AGM / EGM minutes where the special resolution was passed? I have had situations in the past where someone has claimed permission, and Strata Manager or SC member even vouched for this, but with a little digging I found it either did not exist or was invalid.
We have used lift consultants to come and in and inspect our lift system after a major issue.
They identified that the lift service company was not fixing all the items, and were trying to bill us for items that under their contract should really be there responsibility. We now engage the same firm once a year or so do a check and make sure we keep them on the straight and narrow.
We spoke with four companies that do this and settled on one we have been very happy with. Please private message me if you would like the details.
Use of a VSD (variable speed device) on extractor fans can be very beneficial. If a fan is reduced 20% in speed it can quite often reduce power consumption by 50% and noise by an discernible level (not sure how much precisely). These are not that expensive to install.
An even fancier option is a smarter VSD that runs at 80% from say 6am to 10pm when people will be using their bathooms and then drops the power to 50% from 10pm to 6am. This would really get the noise down.
The cost of implementing the VSDs can be recouped in running cost savings over a few years. So no reason for an OC to not be keen to implement.
The claims you make on insurance may impact the cost of cover in future years. Therefore when residents make dubious claims on the OCs insurance, the OC may incur increased future costs of policies. Therefore a few people pushing the envelope, will result in all residents being burdened with higher costs in the future.
Doesn’t seem very fair to me. Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should.
In our complex we have made up sets of security fobs and master keys and dropped them off at the three local fire stations. The NSW Fire Department have good processes in place whereby when a call comes through from a strata or commercial complex, if there are keys registered and kept at that station, the fire fighters are alerted to this and they grab them on the way to the trucks. We left them (registered) at all likely fire stations to respond to us.
We had a resident who was very concerned that ambulance / police would not be able to reach them (locked front complex door and a secure lift) in case of emergency. We inquired if the same process as done with the Fire Dept could be done with Police and Ambulance, and was told no. As in many cases the police or ambulance unit that responds is already on the road, it is not practicable for them to collect the keys either timing or process wise.
We have a contractors key safe at our complex. We asked if we could provide the code to police / ambulance for this as a work around, and was also told no, there is no where for this information to be stored.
I am unsure who would have the liability to pay for a knocked down door in case of emergency, but when it comes down to it, if they need to respond in a life threatening situation, who pays for the door would be least of my concerns!
Roland, I just suggest you follow the advice from Jimmy, kaindub and Stratabox above, and just request access to the Strata Roll from the Strata Manager. They may feel inclined to charge the requisite thirty odd dollar charge, but you will very quickly then have the mailing address for all of the owners (or possibly their “agents”). Much easier than jumping through hoops with local council, especially when there is already a method in place to access these records.
While shower screens are lot owners responsibility, if while repairing the common wall tiles, the shower screen was damaged, then it is OCs responsibility to rectify/replace the shower screen. We have had this occur in our complex.
Were other works done in the bathroom at the same time or recently, specifically the common wall tiles?
Also it should be like for like (or close to), not a fancy upgrade say from normal framed shower screen to frameless.
Sorry to tell you this but your No Pets bylaw may not stand up if tested.
Per Cathy Sherry’s recent article: https://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/even-goldfish-could-be-banned-until-now-20180904-p501oa.html NCAT last week published a decision that a blanket ban on pets was invalid as it breached the new prohibition on bylaws that are harsh, unconscionable or oppressive.
A complex I am involved in currently has a No Pets bylaw in place, which numerous residents ignore, and at the next AGM we intend to put in a well structured but fair bylaw requiring an independent assessment by a vet of the suitability of the breed of cat/dog etc to the unit. This has been based upon other excellent posts on this forum.
Re your specific question about assistance animals. If they have their animal trained and a permit obtained, and an appropriate medical professional signs off on the residents “condition” being aided by the assistance animal, you would be very hard pressed to get the animal removed, regardless of it your No Pets bylaw is valid or not.
Per https://www.olg.nsw.gov.au/public/dogs-and-cats/information-for-the-community/assistance-animals it is not hard to find a disability that a person could claim that would be very hard to disprove.
Ask your Strata Manager for a copy of the Strata Roll, to which you are entitled, even if they charge you the small inspection fee to do so.
Then check if the “tenant” renting the car park is listed on the roll per https://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/housing-and-property/strata-and-community-living/strata-schemes/responsibilities-of-the-owners-corporation
If not, lot 3 would be in breach of the tenancy notice being given within 14 days: http://www5.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/ssma2015242/s258.html
Another issue may be that lot 3 are breaking the Development Application (DA) conditions for your complex. Depending upon the age of your block the DA would have a specified number of parking spaces based upon number of bedrooms, and this would normally be related to what the council required under their planning guidelines. If a lot then “commercially” leases their garage to someone outside the complex, they are going against the DA.
Re your issue of the common area full of items – take lots of photos. Without this it can later on become a he said, she said situation.
Toretti I know of an eight story strata building in the CBD which last year replaced it’s lift, after giving everyone six months notice. Prior to commencement of work they rekeyed with a security key all fire stair locks on each floor, with a different key per floor, but all keys being able to open the door on the street level. Keys were then distributed to residents based upon the number of bedrooms and number of people registered on the strata roll.
They also put battery operated sensors on each door (from Jaycar or similar) which alarmed if left open for more than 60 seconds I believe.
For the first few days there was absolute chaos, particularly with the units illegally housing seven or eight students in a one bedroom unit, with only one name on the lease, and as such only one key issued.
After the first week it settled down, and funnily enough quite a bit of community spirit end up appearing, with people assisting their neighbours in carrying groceries up the many floors. A few residents, particularly the less mobile, stayed with friends and family during the lift replacement, which would not have been convenient but was understood to be necessary.
The building now has a shiny new lift, and lot less overcrowding!
Sorry to hijack a topic (I hate it when people do that) but it is a related question.
In our complex we have balcony balustrades made of metal frames with glass in them. If we come across a unit with cracked or broken glass we organise the glaziers to come in and resolve it, and the OC picks up the cost. Like Jimmy says we want to get the safety issue fixed quickly.
Have we been doing this all wrong? We believed that unless it was bleedingly obvious that someone had done something stupid, that it would be hard to have the owner / tenant pick up the tab.
Firstly it is great to see someone paying some attention to this sort of thing as most owners let it just wash over them.
I believe your levies are too low by at least a couple of hundred dollars per quarter. My reasoning for this is that:
– you should not be running a negative balance in the admin fund
– $50,000 in the capital works fund is very low for a 45 year old 12 apartment complex. This is less than $5,000 per unit. Imagine living in a house and only have $5,000 available to you in case of a major emergency.
– The $15,000 spent out of the Capital Works Fund may well have been normal, what should be expected maintenance, and therefore should have been out of the Admin Fund, but due to lack of money had to be taken from Capital Works. I see this commonly occurring.As scotlandx asked, is there a 10 year Captial Works Plan in place? In many small complexes such as yours there is not, and everyone is very suprised when a large “unexpected” expense comes along.
I have moved into a number of Strata complexes where the levies were 20% to 100% under what they realistically should have been, and had been for many years. This lack of funds had resulted in tired buildings, with large irregular emergency “fixes” having to be done in a rush, because proper maintenance was not in place. The knock on effect was lower sale prices, lower rents, and unhappy residents due to the complexes not being up to par. I hope that as you appear to have a number of interested residents in your complex, that this has not been allowed to occur.
The original development application for your apartment complex, which the specified number of parking spaces etc was done based upon X number of apartments with X number of bedrooms, which could then be assumed to house a maximum of X number of people. Changing the number of bedrooms in an apartment will alter this, and while if you are the only apartment in your complex to change, it would possibly set a precedent for others to follow.
Also apartment complexes are normally designed to have bedrooms over bedrooms between apartments, and living areas over other living areas. This helps with noise etc. By putting a bedroom in a living room, there may be issues down the track with noisier individuals above you, and the angst it can cause all around.
I have been in complexes where people have done unapproved installations of 2nd/3rd bedrooms in the living areas, and when building or strata management discovered this, were quick to have removed per the above reasons.
Willoughby Council is reasonably easy to deal with, so other other posters have suggested I would recommend calling them directly.
Olivia are the insurance concerns re items being stolen, or was it around the fire risk of the sprinkler system etc not being designed for the larger combustible load?
In a complex in which I used to live with just under 100 lots we had spare space, which we divided into multiple cages of 1.5 x 2.5 odd meters. These were then rented out at reasonable rates on a yearly upfront basis. To make it fair we did an initial advertising campaign to get all those interested to register their interest, and then if more than nine residents (owners living on site or tenants) had applied we were going to select out of a hat. In the end only five or six initially took them up, but within a year all of them were rented and brining in a little over $10,000 per year at the time, which covered the cost of the cages and the extra sprinklers in the first two years. After that it was pure profit. Price increases were linked to Sydney CPI.
The above was all covered in a bylaw approved at an AGM.
In a different complex the issue of too much “stuff” stored in the basement was raised as a fire risk by the fire contractor and others including an insurance consultant. We were told in this case that the fire upgrade to make it compliant would be way too expensive to consider. We obviously jumped on this quick smart and had the excess items and more flammable items removed.