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But the premise is flawed. If a landlord has a long standing tenant say 10 years on a yearly lease that was renewed annually with rental adjustments, putting current rent, say for argument’s sake, double what it was 10 yrs ago, the bond data will reveal ONLY the rent charged in the tenant’s first year some 10 years ago because FT informs that the quantum of the bond cannot be changed until there is a change of tenant.
Fortunately, the NSW Rent Check system will take into accuont the past THREE months’ rental data for each poastcode. The Rent Check system is now up and running. There is a common questions section which addresses this issue.
Search for “Resdential Tenancies Act 2010” on the NSW Legislation web site.
Division 4. Sections 55 to 61 are relevant to your question.
Section 55 Paragraph 2 says that the landlord can enter the premises to do maintenance if they give the tenant at least two days’ advance notice.
I suggest you read through this yourself and see if there is a way you can remedy the situation. Perhaps a polite request to the landlord supported by a letter from your GP or specialist doctor would be enough.
… I think a properly trained A.I. could be incredibly useful for Fair Trading and the Strata Commission, if only to instantly explain to strata residents what their basic rights and responsibilities were, and maybe even what their chances of success would be if they pursued their issues to a tribunal.
We could put strata lawyers out of a job if the AI bot could:
- Read the legislation and tell us what we need to know in plain English.
- Write customised by-laws for us.
- Complete our NCAT applications
To test the AI Bot, I would like it to ask it to read through the NSW Legislation and find out what constitutes a “minor renovation” and what constitutes a “cosmetic renovation”. Would it know there are separate lists in the Strata Schemes Management Act and the Strata Schemes Management Regulation?
The strata plan is a legal document. If you are a lot owner, your strata manager (or strata committee) should let you have a copy of it. I cannot say who is responsible for that area outside the front door without seeing your strata plan.
By way of example, here is what my strata plan says. My strata plan is also townhouses. Each townhouse has an area called “garden court”, which is an enclosed courtyard at the rear of the lot.
“GARDEN COURTS ARE LIMITED TO A HEIGHT OF 3.66 ABOVE, EXCEPT WHERE COVERED AND A DEPTH OF 1.525 BELOW UPPER SURFACE OF GROUND FLOOR LEVEL OF RESPECTIVE ADJOINING UNIT.”
Therefore, in my strata plan, paving in the garden court would be the responsibility of the owner.
Just remember: this wording on your strata plan is going to be different. Ask your strata manager for a copy of the strata plan.
Hello OzCondo
I am not familiar with the “Owners Corporation Act 2006” which is the law for Victorians. I suggest you google that string and read the Act yourself. Those are the laws or regs you are seeking.
I had a quick look and noticed these two numbered sections:
Section 11 is titled “Management of owners corporation and powers to delegate”
Section 71 is titled “Agenda for annual general meeting”Paragraph 3 of Section 11 says that the owners corporation cannot delegate something which requires an unanimous, special or resolution at a general meeting. Section 71 says that the approval of the budget should be an item on the agenda of a general meeting.
I strongly urge you to read through the Act and put some questions about this to the committee and your strata manager.
SaltyOne, why do you think it is a new requirement? When I look at “point in time versions” of the SSMA 2015, Section 55 seems to have been there for a few years.
The reason I mentioned strata management software: my two most recent strata managers had almost identical looking report layouts. They merely changed the strata manager’s name at the top of each page.
It’s not right that they are ignoring you. It’s not surprising either.
It seems to fit with the legislation OC Act 2006 per section 24 (3) ‘The owners corporation may determine the times for payment of the special levies and charges.’ Thank you.
Usually all owners are levied at the same time. Since you have already paid the $4,000 levy, you are asking the owners corporation to cancel your levy invoice and issue it to the next owner.
The new owner may object by claiming that $4,000 special levy was included in the sale price of the apartment.
In NSW, it is possible for owners corporation funds to be paid back to the owners. (see SSMA 2015 (NSW) Section 77 Distribution of Surplus Money …). I couldn’t find anything similar in the Victorian OC Act 2006.
What was written on the agenda? The agenda item should say something like “that the Owners Corporation resolves by special resolution / ordinary resolution to <insert activity here>”.
The exact wording from the agenda should be copy / pasted into the minutes. At the time of the meeting, you could re-write the motion to say something else. You can only do this if you are not taking pre-votes from members not attending the meeting in person. Everyone has to be voting on the same decision.
I suggest:
- Read the agenda and compare that motion with what is shown in the minutes.
- Find out if anyone voted before the meeting. If yes, the wording of the motion must NOT change.
Meeting procedures are documented in the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW). Scroll down to the bottom to “Schedule 1 Meeting procedures of owners corporations”.
I’ve listened to your podcast and I know how much you advocate for pet owners. Unfortunately, I had a very bad experience with a yapping dog. The dog did not stop yapping until the resident returned home. The dog could be yapping all day and into the night. Neighbours from the same strata plan and neighbouring addresses complained about it. They called the police, local council and RSPCA. They were told to “talk to strata”.
Talking to the tenant was pointless. They straight up denied the existence of a dog. Then they said the non-existent dog belonged to a relative.
In the end, the property owner evicted the tenant for keeping a pet without seeking permission. (There were other issues: illicit drug use, property damage.) It was faster to get the problem resolved with an eviction.
If it was left to “strata”, we would issue the breach of by-law notice, apply for mediation and go to NCAT. There would have been months of relentless dog yapping.
fee-free rental payments: totally agree. It is obscene that anyone would consider charging a transaction fee for paying rent.
Paying for your own background check does not seem right. They’re exploiting tenants because tenants don’t have a lot of choice right now.
Does anyone have experience with S55 reports (NSW)?
STRATA SCHEMES MANAGEMENT ACT 2015 – SECT 55 Strata managing agent to record exercise of functions (austlii.edu.au)
Or is this requirement something that the Strata Managers just ignore because it’s too difficult?
Hi SaltyOne
I found a “Strata Managers Report” in my old files. The report contains many lists, sumarising the work they did for us. The lists are grouped under the following headings.
- Work Orders Issued
- Quotes Called
- Total Strata Status Certificates Issued (Section 184 Certificates)
- Strata Interest Notices (Section 22 Notice)
- Total Number of Payments Issued
- Total Number of Receipts Issued
- Insurance Commissions Earned and Predicted
- List of Insurance Claims
- List of Meetings Called
- Training Services Received
- It looks like something that was produced from a strata management software package. Having experienced multiple strata managers, I think they’re using specialised strata management software to handle their work.
We never formally requested a “Strata Manager’s Report”. It was bundled with all the papers accompanying the notice of Annual General Meeting. By “papers”, I mean the agenda, Statement of Key Financial Information, Balance Sheet, budget, income and expenditure statements and any service they wanted to charge extra money for doing.
I think this report should be part of the service they provide for you. If they have never provided such a report, they may try to charge you an extra fee for producing it.
Strata law requires that any major renovation be approved as a special resolution (ie, majority for, less than a quarter against) at a general meeting, any minor renovation be approved as a normal resolution at a general meeting (ie, a majority for, and some buildings have delegated this to the strata committee), and any cosmetic renovation does not require approval.
How is the split between major, minor and cosmetic defined? This seems to be a useful approach, if it can be defined clearly.
Please refer to Sections 109 and 110 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 (NSW). There are lists of what is considered “cosmetic” or “minor renovation”.
You can google “Strata Schemes Management Act 2015” and find the NSW legislation web site.
Jimmy’s article is a caution for all of us.
Have a regular, ongoing inspection and maintenance regime for plumbing, drainage, roof, electrical and plant.
Deal with repairs routinely and promptly.
Maintain a healthy fund balance so you can ‘self-insure’ smaller jobs.
Agreed. It is a false economy to think that you can avoid paying for something by claiming it on insurance. Any claim is going to increase ALL future premiums. I aim to make no claims except if the entire building is lost by fire or natural disaster.
Consider setting higher excesses to lower premiums
The highest excess I could get was $5,000.
Always include your excess in yearly budgets, and carry it over
Great idea! I have now included it in my budget for next year.
Always shop around insurance and scrutinise policies.
In NSW, the SSMA 2015 requires us to seek three quotes for building insurance. When I sought the policy myself, I learnt that we could exclude “contents insurance” because we had no contents. That made the premium cheaper. Also, by obtaining the policy myself, I avoided the 20% insurance broker commission. It saddens me that we paid 20% commission for a professional broker, who did not even ask us if we needed contents insurance.
Here is an explanation of unit entitlements
There is a fixed total number of unit entitlements. Each lot is allocated a fraction of this total. How much unit entitlement is allocated depends on things like the size of the lot, balconies etc. The unit entitlement determines how much levy the owner pays. The higher the unit entitlement, the higher the levy.
Suppose a strata plan has a total 1,000 unit entitlements. Each lot was allocated either 122, 125 or 128 unit entitlements, depending on their size and position in the strata plan. If the owners corporation has an annual budget of $100,000:
Lots with 122 unit entitlement pay $12,200 annual levy
Lots with 125 unit entitlement pay $12,500 annual levy
Lots with 128 unit entitlement pay $12,800 annual levy
Unit entitlements can also be used to count votes in a general meeting, if poll voting is adopted.
In NSW, Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 Section 236: Order for reallocation of unit entitlements
You can ask the Tribunal to make an order to reallocate the unit entitlements if you can prove that the existing regime is “unreasonable”. Any individual lot owner can make an application (paragraph 3). You don’t need to pass a resolution at a general meeting.
I suggest you ask your strata manager what the unit entitlement is of each lot. This should be shown on the plot plan or Certificate of Title. Speak to a strata lawyer if you think the owners with a balcony should pay higher levies. The strata lawyer could help you assemble an application to NCAT, if you are unsure of doing it yourself.
I found this article quite amusing.
In my childhood, we had portable transistor radios and cassette players. It never bothered me if someone wanted to play music or listen to a sports broadcast on their portable thing. Maybe there was more space between people.
There is not as much space between people in a train carriage, bus stop, restaurant, coffee shop. What has happened to courtesy and good manners? There is so much selfishness and entitlement now. Someone wants to listen to their smartphone and thinks the rest of the world should either put up or shut up!
I find the “open ear” style of earphones very comfortable. They don’t have a plug going into the ear canal. They have a hook over the ear so they can’t easily fall off. I can keep the “open ear” earphones on for so long that I forget that I was wearing them. They don’t work as well as in ear buds in noisy public places. They’re perfect if you’re in a train carriage / library or a not too busy coffee shop.
SCA-NSW should get kicked out of the Professional Standards Authority.
They should never have been allowed to join PSA in the first place. They have had a culture of kickbacks and overservicing extending over decades.
I could go into detail with my experiences of incompetence and dishonesty but I would become “incoherent with rage”.