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I’ll add another +1 to Darryl’s thought. I’m stunned at how oblivious some buyers are to the nature of strata, and who claim they are ‘ambushed’ when they have to contribute to forecast repairs. ‘You didn’t disclose that in the contract!’. Err…we didn’t write the contract. We didn’t see the contract. We didn’t see the strata report, but we did give the report writer access to our records…
I bought a rural property many years ago. The mandatory Council zoning certificate attached to the contract for sale had a cover page with a brief, large-print statement along the lines of: ‘This property is in an area zoned Rural. Expect dust, spray drift, noisy machinery operating at any time of the day throughout the year. [don’t bother complaining to us]” etc.
Something like this would be a good addition to strata contracts, to very briefly state something like “As well as the right to live in or rent your apartment/townhouse/whatever, you are becoming part of an owners corporation which owns and runs the entire building. You will pay a share of the building’s operation and ongoing maintenance through levies, and can participate in its management by attending meetings or joining its committee.” In large red print!
That’s a really good idea Uberowner. A quick chat with a committee chair or secretary will give you a read on the way the building runs, the diligence of the committee, the quality of and strata and building managers and any upcoming big projects.
While it says Fair Trading ‘won’t take action’ it also says they will ‘automatically stop being a committee member’ if they don’t complete the training.
I agree it will be interesting, but I think there will be social pressure within committees. Those who have done the training will lean on those that haven’t. And if they miss the deadline, just say ‘you’re out’.
I’ve heard of too many committees with members who are really only there to look out for their personal interests or push their personal barrows, with neighbours who don’t question their self-nomination at an AGM in the interests of harmony.
Now, a secretary can just say ‘Sorry, my hands are tied. The law says you’re not a committee member any more.’
@adanal Carefully read your contract with the manager and find the termination clauses. The one you are looking for is a clause that allows you to cancel for breach. It will probably say something like ‘…the OC may cancel with X days notice if the manager has failed to meet a requirement of this contract and has not rectified the breach within X days…’
Their failure seems to be significant. So make sure they were properly notified (which might require a formally-called strata committee, or even a general, meeting).
Probably the ideal would be to hold a general meeting that sets out the breach, its significance and consequences, and resolve to notify the breach to the manager, what would be required to rectify it and to terminate the agreement if it is not rectified in the stated terms (which might include some compensation for loss, perhaps in terms of a credit against future fees) by the deadline required by the contract.
If they don’t meet your times, on the appointed day, simultaneously notify the manager, all owners, Fair Trading, the Strata Hub and the bank that holds your funds that the strata managing agency agreement is terminated effective this date.
Key things: do everything by the book – properly called meeting by the secretary, the right notice periods, minutes distributed to owners etc. NOTE: assuming you have an elected secretary and a current strata roll, you don’t need to tell the strata manager anything about the meeting.
Build all the decisions into a single meeting, as separate motions: the sending of the letter, the rectification terms, the termination, granting the authority to the secretary to send all these letters etc.
If it’s a particularly tricky contract, there may be a clause requiring you to have the manager call and hold the meeting. This won’t stand legal scrutiny. The actual, elected secretary has the legal authority to call the meeting.
Now, if all the above feels do-able by the committee and owners who’ll help, go for it. If any of it feels out of reach, you should probably involve a lawyer, or a carefully-selected replacement strata manager, to help you with it.
We followed this approach a few years ago and successfully negotiated a ‘mutually agreed’ end to the contract (another termination option that’s usually there).
Good luck.
@thehood – sorry, but your ‘argument’ looks weaker each time I read it.
You’re starting with the premise that financial owners are ‘plutocrats’.
That’s nonsense. These ‘plutocrats’ are just people meeting the financial obligations they agreed to. This is not ‘financial status’. They’re not oppressing the downtrodden or anything like it.
Buildings cost money to run and maintain. The levies are there in the paperwork when you buy. They’re set each year at an AGM where everyone who is meeting their financial obligations gets a vote. If the money isn’t raised…
Payment plans are an avenue for owners who can’t currently meet those obligations. While this is imperfect, and it remains to be seen how the recent reforms will play out, it attempts to support people in good faith.
If you want to make a genuine case for something, ditch the alarmist labels and finger-pointing, and state what you think is right – and why.
Incidentally, note the other provisions in the Act that reduce voting power: being the developer or being associated with them. Why? Because these people really can wield ‘plutocratic’ power.
However there’s no provision for taking votes away from lousy neighbours and pains in the neck.
Now that’s an idea worth exploring.
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Just to be clear on the legalities of this. Per s111 of the SSMA (below), as soon as work affects common property, unless there is a pre-existing by-law that covers it in detail, it will need a by-law or approval through a special resolution.
This is not a strata committee decision, it’s an owners corporation decision, to be made at a general meeting. And the terms of the request should be precise. A ‘letter’ seeking ‘retrospective approval’ is not a thing.
It would be a good idea for the building to work out agreed guidelines on air conditioning installation and location, then embody those in a standard by-law so the rules are clear for all. You may be able to find a suitable by-law template on one of the online services, otherwise (ideally) have it drafted by a lawyer. Apart from appearance, sloppy aircon installations can create water ingress problems and compromise electrical safety (ask me how I know!). Insist on full details of all contractor licences and public liability insurance.
Good luck!
111 Work by owners of lots affecting common propertyAn owner of a lot in a strata scheme must not carry out work on the common property unless the owner is authorised to do so—
(a) under this Part, or
(b) under a by-law made under this Part or a common property rights by-law, or
(c) by an approval of the owners corporation given by special resolution or in any other manner authorised by the by-laws.
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Hi Woodwalker,
I haven’t used OurBodyCorporate, but our 14-lot building (in Sydney) has been self-managed for about seven years.
We’ve been using Urbanise, which is software aimed at strata managers, which is overkill. But having learned how to use it and paid the pretty high up-front cost for setup and training, we’re happy to stick with it. But I don’t think I’d recommend it to you, just because of the overkill.
I do like the sound of OurBodyCorporate’s different levels and would guess the admin support level is appropriate.
Although we don’t have a strata manager, we do use external building consultants and lawyers to support our self-management.
Good luck with it!
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We upgraded our building (14 lots) to FTTP (from FTTC).
Cost was $275 to NBNCo. The installation was done by a contractor who did an excellent job, locating the equipment as requested by each apartment.
Everyone is free to use a provider of their choice.
I’m really enjoying 1Gb/s!
To answer chesswood’s questions, based on our experience:
- what standard the installation is done to. Will there be new conduits carrying fibres all over the walls?
There are conduits in our car space and on the outside of the building. Internal cabling in corridors, where visible, was done in neat rectangular ducting. Internal cabling in apartments used very discreet adhesive fibre. The contractors were attentive to appearance.
- what costs unit owners will face
Once installed, unit owners’ costs for whatever service they currently have will remain the same. (i.e. if they have nothing, it costs nothing; if they have phone only, that’s what they’ll pay for).
- what happens to existing services during the installation period (about three months, apparently).
Our existing FTTC service was maintained throughout, and will be until everyone has moved to the fibre.
- that this is a change to infrastructure which in NSW strata will require a super majority to approve
As an upgrade (rather than maintenance), yes, it needs a special resolution. At some point, as existing copper is entirely superseded, it might become maintenance.
- how much say the OC has in the detailed design which will be prepared once an application has been lodged
Our experience was that we had a lot of say. We worked with the contractors to determine all cable routes, equipment locations etc.
I hope this helps.
There’s nothing wrong with a strata manager being paid for the time involved in arranging insurance.
But that’s not what commission is for.
It’s one of several ways some strata managers artificially lower their ‘management fee’ when they’re pitching for new business. Its sole purpose is to win business against honest competitors by concealing part of their remuneration – which is, of course, paid by their clients.
It’s designed to deceive and mislead. That’s why it has to go.
Check your by-laws. A commercial building I was in had a by-law putting responsibility for the grease traps on the restaurants that used them (and which gave them exclusive use of them).
However, we found they couldn’t be relied on to organise this which led to nasty smells. The owners corporation took over arranging the cleaning and split the bill between them.
We did the same with exhaust cleaning.
Otherwise I think @kaindub is likely right.
If you don’t have such a by-law already, you’ll be pushing to get it through as you need the written consent of the lot owners concerned.
If your plan is not registered for GST, your strata levies are not an invoice for “goods and services”. You are basically just transferring money from your bank account into a “joint account” managed by the OC.
Hi Boronia, it might seem like that, but the owners corporation is a separate legal entity from the owners, with its own Australian Business Number, Tax File Number and tax responsibilities. And it doesn’t matter whether the OC is registered for GST. Its bank account is either in the name of the OC or, if you use a strata managing agent, it may be a trust account operated by the agent. It is not a “joint account” and owners do not have direct access to it and will only be recorded in the account if they are signatories on behalf of the OC.
What is the Directions hearing?
A directions hearing is an initial hearing before a tribunal member to work out what the dispute is, who’ll be appearing, how many witnesses and how long will it take. No decisions on the substance of the dispute will be made – it’s all procedural.
If a party doesn’t turn up at the directions hearing, they’re effectively handing their opponent a ‘win’.
As an owner, use the directions hearing to say you will be representing yourself and objecting strongly if the OC wants to be represented by a lawyer. NCAT defaults to self-representation and needs a reason for representation. If the OC persuades the member they can be represented, then say you would like that option but that you will then be seeking costs against the OC.
Go in there with a clear outline of your case, the evidence you will present, the witnesses you will call.
Don’t be hesitant about asking the member to assist you with the process.
At the end of the directions hearing, the member will issue ‘directions’ to the parties (hence the name!). These are legally binding orders: the applicant to submit their evidence by such-and-such a date; the respondent to submit theirs X days later; hearing to be held on this date etc. It might include orders to produce certain documents (e.g. if OC/SM has been withholding documents from you, you could ask the member to direct that they provide you with them).
Note that you can still get legal advice and assistance preparing your documents as a self-represented party. You just can’t have a lawyer speak on your behalf. I would encourage anyone going to NCAT to use a lawyer like this (I’m saying this as a successful litigant at NCAT – the 3-4 hours we paid our lawyer for were well worth it, and they were very happy to talk us through the process).
Hope this helps!
Great to hear a good story like this.
I encourage people looking at strata for the first time to do their own strata searches, and see and read the files for themselves. You fairly quickly pick up on those that are harmonious and well-managed. And the more you see, the better you can judge them.
A critical thing is to look at the notices of meetings, not just the minutes. That’s where the detail is (or should be!): the quotes, the consultants’ reports etc.
I agree with the dedicated email address, and our building has its own domain name and email hosting. That way we can have a single address to all committee members – sc@xxxx.xxx.xxx as well as secretary@, chair@ etc. This also facilitates maintaining, sharing and passing on the emails as strata records.
I also think it’s good to set up clear communications protocols. I function as building manager in our self-managed scheme, and I definitely want a phone call from a resident if a pipe bursts. But I don’t want it to check when the next levy is due etc.
So I think it’s reasonable to spell out that you’ll check and respond to a special email address daily/weekly/whatever for non-urgent, routine communications. But that someone can text/phone for urgent – and spell out that ‘urgent’ means fire, flood, lift breakdown etc.
This is one of the things that used to frustrate me when we had a strata manager. That there was no avenue for truly urgent contact. In one situation we had a smoke alarm sounding, and needed to contact the resident. We couldn’t get hold of the strata manager or the property manager, so the fire brigade had to break in…to discover something had been left on the stove and the resident had gone out.
It doesn’t have to be done by a lawyer, but it does have to be done by someone with a PEXA account. I just checked and we paid $375 in 2023 to a firm called “Sydney Legal Agents”, who mainly provide this service to solicitors.
Be warned, they’re used to dealing with people who understand the arcane language of PEXA – which bears only a passing resemblance to English. It took me three goes to get it right.
I’ve since found out my solicitors have a PEXA account and will do it for about the same fee.
So shop around. And minimise the intermediaries! Adding the managing agent into the chain isn’t helpful.