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The Strata Manager is wrong, DOFT and Whale are right, there was no quorum so on its face it is invalid.
Although as Whale correctly points out, what is the point, if the owner holds 58% of the entitlements, I would pursue it so that any interest and charges are reversed. If the special levy is invalid, then they can’t charge you those extras. Perhaps you can start out by writing them a formal letter setting out the requirement in the Act re the section 12(3) requirement and tell them that you require them to reverse those charges/penalties, and for another meeting to be held.
It is in the lease, the OP said there is a specific clause in the lease saying that the dog could stay on occasion. I thought that was what the OP wanted, to have the dog there occasionally.
The landlord has backtracked because the neighbour has complained, but if it is in writing they can’t.
The missing piece is that no-one has asked the EC’s permission. So go ahead and ask, you have the landlord’s ok. In our building the landlord always does it because they are the owner, but perhaps it might be easier here if the tenant does.
That advice is way off base, the lawyer/accountant seems to be assuming that it is a matter for a court (e.g. the Supreme Court), when it is a matter for the CTTT at first (and second) instance. As Jimmy says, the Tribunal is a low cost venue in relative terms. The kind of mediation that is required in a court process is completely different to that in the CTTT, and as Jimmy also says you don’t need that for an application to appoint a statutory manager.
In relation to who bears the costs, it is the party making the application, so if you make the application you pay.
It is very rare for costs to be awarded against a party by the CTTT.
You are entitled to inspect the strata roll and take a copy of it, you may be required to pay a prescribed fee of $45 for inspection. Email addresses shouldn’t be kept on the strata roll because they aren’t required information under the Act.
There was a case about access to the strata roll recently, where the strata manager refused on Privacy grounds. He lost. Refer here.
https://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/nsw/NSWCTTT/2013/45.html
Boronia – Whale is giving you good advice. In your situation your best option is to apply for statutory appointment of a manager, on the grounds that the scheme is not functioning satisfactorily. From what you have said it is certainly not meeting the requirements of the Act so you won’t have a problem.
In relation to the owner having 70% of the entitlements and a number of proxies – the order you would need to seek is one where the strata manager takes over the power to make decisions that are usually made by the OC, i.e. those decisions usually voted on by the owners. That is a very harsh measure but in your case, the order would be pointless without it, because otherwise the owner could continue to do what he wants.
I suggest you not be distracted by the fine details of the storage cages issue at present.
I did, but it only brought it up to an average of 3 stars, sorry!
There are two strands/relationships that run alongside each other in this situation:
1. your lease with the owner of the property
2. the by-laws that govern what the residents of the strata can do, including the keeping of animals. Those by-laws bind the owners and as a consequence anyone to whom they lease the property (although this can get tricky)
As far as the owner is concerned, they can’t agree in a lease to allow you to do something such as keeping an animal, unless it is permissible under the by-laws. So for example if the by-laws ban animals outright, then the owner can’t lease the property to you and say animals are ok, because the by-laws take precedence. In answer to one of your questions, no the lease does not override the by-laws.
However we don’t know what the by-laws say – they may ban animals, allow animals, or say that animals can’t be kept without written permission and that permission cannot be unreasonably withheld. The last option is the most common. It is pretty easy to find out what the by-laws are, if you know who the strata manager is, ask them for a copy, although the owner should have given you a copy when you moved in. Or ask the agent, and remind them of their obligations to give them to you under the law.
If the by-laws don’t ban animals outright, then you have the option of pursuing the matter further. Where the by-law provides for written permission the usual process is that the landlord should seek permission from the OC for the animal to be kept by the tenant. From what you say the landlord doesn’t sound very helpful and may not want to do that if it is an option.
In your case it doesn’t matter if the landlord is now saying they didn’t approve the clause in the lease, if it is in the lease and that has been signed, then it is a term of the lease. I agree with you that it does seem unfair that you have been mucked around, where you have acted in good faith.
None of this is legal advice, but you could argue that they have breached a term of the lease, or represented you could do something that you are not allowed to do, and therefore you want to terminate it. I suggest your best option is to go here:
https://www.tenants.org.au/tenants-rights-factsheets
and here
https://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/Tenants_and_home_owners/Renting_a_home.html
for further advice.
Good luck!
In this case, if an owner’s lot is awash with water due to a fault in the common property then yes, the OC has a responsibility to fix that fault. If it has caused or is causing damage to things in the lot such as carpet, the OC must replace those items. (Yes I know others see it differently, but the damage is caused by the defective property). If there were circumstances such as not being able to rent the property out, the owner could sue for damages and would likely succeed.
Taking into account the nature of the problem, delay is not acceptable, and is not in the interests of the OC.
16 months is far too long, 3 months is reasonable from the start of the problem. Send them a letter saying they must fix it within a 14 days or a month, or you will commence proceedings.
If it makes you feel any better, in another building where I owned a unit, we had no hot water for more than three weeks, and did not hear a word from either the EC or the strata manager about what was happening. Not one single word. In the middle of winter.
That was really sh***y.
The answer lies in who put it in. Was it always there, in which case it is likely to be the OC’s. Or was it installed later? Are there any by- laws relating to the light?
I put a light outside my backdoor, wich is operated from a switch inside my lot, so it is my responsibility.
Yay! That is such good news! Well done.
I hope you don’t have to endure any more recalcitrance, going by what you have told us, who knows. But keep us posted and congratulations.
I can empathise with your frustration, especially where it is just one switch, but I don’t agree that an EC member should be responsible for fixing basics that arise, they aren’t on the EC to do that. The kind of person you are thinking of is a building manager, and they are paid and would also have appropriate insurance.
We had a leaking pipe a short time ago and I ended up in the courtyard at 9.30 at night in the rain with the plumber, I don’t get any thanks for that kind of thing. I will call someone out but that’s it, I would never try to fix anything.
If you aren’t on the EC perhaps you should nominate yourself and try and improve things. I don’t agree with EC members being off-limits.It’s a bit hard to tell without more detail, there are several elements to electing the EC:
1. determining the number of members of the EC (no more than 9), which is for the owners to decide at the AGM.
2. nominations for membership of the EC. A nomination is not the same as a proxy. You cannot use a proxy to nominate a person (or yourself) for the EC, it is a separate thing, so you need a document saying I nominate X to be a member of the EC. You can only be nominated by an owner (you can nominate yourself).
3. If there are more nominations than there are positions on the EC, then the owners vote on who they want.
4. Determining who will be the office bearers.
What isn’t clear from what you said is how people were nominated to the EC. They might have been properly nominated, but it could be worth checking.
As a matter of good governance, proxies should be disclosed. The minutes have to detail who held what proxy anyway, and if they don’t you should be asking why. Also if a person puts in a proxy it would be difficult for them to direct the proxy re any election of EC members, so it would have to be an undirected proxy.
I was interested by what Bev29 said about the EC charmer being nominated by the strata manager. Unless the strata manager is an owner, that is not possible, so again it could be worthwhile checking and seeing if the nomination was invalid, in which case you could get the charmer off.
ilovebbq, if your previous manager is holding on to your money they are breaking the law. Take Jimmy’s suggestion and ring Fair Trading NOW. You don’t have to throw more money away by suing them, just lodge a complaint demanding they release your money and any records they have.
No offence but your current agent doesn’t sound that great either.I don’t think there is anything preventing a non-financial owner who is a member of the EC from voting at an EC meeting. They can’t vote at a general meeting, but Committee matters are a separate issue.
This is bearing in mind that a person can be nominated to the EC by any lot owner, and that person doesn’t even need to be an owner.