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It’s not about getting free security surveillance from a neighbour. We had an owner, who used the unlawfully installed security camera to cherry pick bits of footage and use them as evidence for an Apprehended Personal Violence Order application against a neighbour. (The application was dismissed.)
The owner of the security camera was frequently violating by-laws and making life unpleasant for the neighbours. All of this would have been captured on the video stream. The owner would never be obliged to show self-incriminating footage to the police because they own the security camera.
If you really want to have security cameras, they must be owned by the owners corporation. This article from Kerin Benson Lawyers touches on the need to have a policy of restricting access to that video feed. If that material is not secured, anyone could be watching footage of our children.
A lot of people (me included) are ignorant of how the levies are used. The quarterly financial statement never looked like a fun read.
Since joining the strata committee, I had a close look at our financial statements and I read the strata manager’s contract. Our strata manager had a rule in our contract where they could spend up to $500 on a repair without asking for permission of the owners corporation. Every three months, I perused our financial statement and noticed many repairs costing $495 or $450.
If the strata manager sought a quote, the price was always exhorbitant. The strata manager doesn’t care about the price because it is not the strata manager’s money. i.e. If the work was being done on the strata manager’s own home, they’d get a better price.
Our owners corporation now works without the “$500 rule” (and the strata manager). Executive committee can advertise for a job to be done. We typically receive quotes half the price or less than under the old regime.
It pays to study your strata manager contract and every transaction in your financial statement. Go back a few years so that you get an idea of all the recurring costs and problems.
Call a few other strata management firms and ask for quotes. When I did that, the strata management price varied a lot. A couple of them had the “$500 rule”.
I would expect levies to be higher in a smaller strata plan and if there are paid employees (building concierge) and facilities like swimming pool, gym, elevators.
Our biggest expenditures are strata insurance, water usage (we’re not individually metered) and strata manager.
Hi EnterSandman
Here are two cases you should read:
Ghabour v The Owners – Strata Plan No. 53284 [2019] NSWCATCD (26 February 2019)
Lai v Community Association DP 270214 [2016] NSWCATCD 58;Here’s an article published last year by JS Mueller & Co about the installation of security cameras on common property. NCAT member’s name for both cases is Scott A McDonald.
I was involved in the successful removal of security cameras installed on an external wall. Breach of Section 108 of SSMA 2015 and Surveillance Devices Act.
In your case, it seems the camera is located inside the lot but attached to the front door. The front door is still common property. In my case, the lawyer for the camera owner argued about “air space”. He tried to say that even though the camera was affixed to common property, it was in the lot’s “air space”. The member kept reminding him it is attached to common property.
I would be really interested to know how you go. Good luck.
Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 says that the appointed strata manager “must hold a strata management licence issued under the Property and Stock Agents Act 2002”. You can google “NSW strata management licence” and see if the agent you are interested in holds a strata management licence.
Perhaps ask your friends and colleagues about their own strata manager? I recently went through the process of getting quotes from strata managers. I made up a spreadsheet to compare costs.
You should ask for a copy of the proposed strata management agreement and read it carefully. You can ask them to change the terms of the agreement.
I recently went through the process of seeking a new strata manager. I received about 8 quotes. There was a big price difference between them. I used a spreadsheet to compare them. Some have a management fee plus disbursements (postage, calls, photocopying etc) plus GST. With a spreadsheet, I could add all these costs.
Check your state’s licensing authority to make sure they are a licensed strata manager.
Some of the strata managers use a template strata management agreement. That template had an annual increase of 5% p.a. and a minimum term of two or three years.
Ask about exit conditions. If you are not happy with the new manager after six months, and the contract says you have a term of three years, you may struggle to get the strata manager to agree to an earlier termination.
Some contracts allow the strata manager to incur expenditure up to $500 or $1,000 without notifying the owners corporation. Make sure you are comfortable with that idea. I’ve seen a lot of invoices for $495 – intended to avoid the attention of the owners corporation.
Also, they almost always want to have unlimited spending for an emergency situation. I think you should find out what they consider an emergency situation to be or work out a plan that does not leave you in bill shock.
Ask them about their debt collection process: how they handle non-payment of levies.
See if the strata manager expects to do all or most of your communications via email / SMS / phone call instead of paper mail. This would help reduce costs and be faster.
Be clear about what is included and what is NOT included in the basic management fee. There may be a long list of tasks which incur extra costs.
The cost of holding the annual general meeting should be included in the basic management fee. Some strata managers allow one extraordinary general meeting at no extra cost.
How much does an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) cost? Is it cheaper if electronic pre-voting is allowed?
Check the cost of updating your by-laws. My previous strata manager charged $550 for adding a by-law change to an EGM agenda. Even though I wrote the by-law myself, they wanted to charge $550 plus the cost of registering it ($141).