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This is very irresponsible journalism. It seems the owners have been very badly advised. While I don’t believe they should be made homeless, it is inevitable that capital works will be required to any home, whether it is strata or freestanding. You can’t expect the other owners to carry the burden.
The Federal Government offers a Pension Loan Scheme that these people could access, which would solve their problem.
In respect of the four years levies prior to the six years – perhaps the OC could seek redress from the strata manager who has advised them incorrectly.
In relation to the leak from the bathroom that is coming out of the common property lights – the OC has the right to enter a lot to undertake repairs. Whether or not the leak is common property or part of the lot, I believe the OC would be advised to do that, and if appropriate add that to the money owing by the lot. You can’t just let water leak out of light fittings.
I have a gmail address specifically for strata matters. I highly recommend doing this, that way the account is just used for strata stuff, and you don’t lose anything. Also I don’t have to look at it every day.
We have nine lots in our strata scheme, if I suggested we buy a phone just so we complied with the regulations the owners would be very amused.
There is no indication of how the information on the register would be controlled. If a person has access to the information, what is to prevent them from sharing it with a third person who doesn’t have access to the information.
So theoretically anyone could have my personal details including residential address, phone number and email. Forget it.
I suppose I could just give a dummy email address and phone number but that’s not really my style, and my name would still be there.
It’s not possible – well, put another way whomever is suing doesn’t know what they are doing.
If the Committee engaged a contractor they did so on behalf of the OC. Without knowing the details, the proper party to sue is the OC. Bear in mind that the Committee is not a legal entity, it’s just the body that does certain things on behalf of the OC.
As a general rule Committee members are not severally liable for actions of the Committee as a whole. If they were nobody would agree to be on a Committee. And a lot is not a member of the Committee, a person is.
I wouldn’t worry about it.
I don’t see why the personal details of the Chair and Secretary have to be provided for a public register. I am Secretary of our scheme and I will either refuse to provide the details or step down.
If the landlord has insurance offer to pay the excess.
There is no statute of limitations on this sort of thing, they are ongoing issues.
In respect of the failure in relation to hot water tank inspection and maintenance, this is serious. If the insurance company required the owners corporation to do those things, if something happens it is likely the insurance company can refuse the claim. I would be writing a very serious letter to the Committee and the management company, so it is on record. One option is to say if you do not take the steps required by the insurance company we will hold you liable.
You say you have always paid your levies on time, so you would know when the levies are due. I schedule my levy payments so I don’t have to think about levy notices. It may sound harsh but you have little ground to challenge the fee which I assume is interest, and does not go to the strata manager. If you don’t pay it you will be unfinancial.
I am in a building built in 1932, on the top floor. My shower drain gets blocked intermittently. I have been told by the strata plumber that the issue is with the pipe which is degrading and needs replacement – to do that we are going to have to rip the entire bathroom out. So there may be a similar issue with your plumbing. And yes, a lot of hair goes down that drain.
I suggest you get the strata plumber out to investigate so you have a clear picture of all the issues and who is responsible for what.
So could you explain how that contradicted a decision that was made by the owners?
As a general observation, insurance excesses are skyrocketing. We had a claim a year ago where the excess was $5K. We had another claim at the end of last year and the excess is $10k.
I agree it is a bad idea. There have been instances in our scheme where very specific pieces of work have been done by Committee members and they have been paid for them, but these have been more in the nature of professional services and the members have invoiced for the services.
In relation to set-off of levies. An owner must pay the levies, any money they might be owed for whatever reason can’t be used to set off the amount owed. By way of example, the strata scheme might owe an owner some money for works that are the responsibility of the OC – the owner should be paid that amount separately rather than setting it off against any levies owed. Similarly, an owner can’t withhold an amount of their levy because the OC owes them money for something.
When you set the levies each year it is by reference to a budget, so set-off against levies would skew the budget.
The levies are independent of any other matter between the owner and the OC – if an owner withholds part of their levies they will be unfinancial.
Make sure the applicants get a dilapidation report on the building prior to works commencing, and ensure they are responsible for rectifying any damage as a result of the works.
Setting aside clauses 6.4 and 6.6 which I haven’t looked at in detail, the other provisions are standard in service contracts generally. I don’t believe any strata manager would agree to change them.
Below is the standard by-law dealing with behaviour on common property, your scheme should have a similar by-law.
This person is breaching that by-law. Assuming there is a by-law of this nature, you should write to the Committee and request that they take immediate action, which would include advising him that he is breaching the by-law and if he does not stop further action will be taken. If they fail to do anything then you should take steps to require the Committee to enforce the by-law.
7 Behaviour of owners, occupiers and invitees
(1) An owner or occupier of a lot, or any invitee of an owner or occupier of a lot, when on common property must be adequately clothed and must not use language or behave in a manner likely to cause offence or embarrassment to the owner or occupier of another lot or to any person lawfully using common property.