[tonytran2015]

@86_strata, Thank you for your response.

At this Owners Corporation in Footscray (near to Melbourne City) 24 pairs of Aluminium framed windows had been actually replaced at the price of $6000 per pair while market price were and is still only $800/pair (totalling 4 square meters), plus labour of at most $1200/pair. Someone had made an overcharge of $4000×24 just for replacing 24 pairs of windows with aluminium frames. Everything has been recorded in the AGM Minutes and the payment records from the Manager. Chairman and Manager passed the buck around. They don’t deny the facts but they admitted absolutely no responsibility. I know that another large blocks of flats in Sunshine (also around Melbourne City) also got its windows replaced after that by the same Chairman! It is clear that he bought one flat in each large block only to secure the contracts for his service providers. According to the Owners Corporation Act it looks like Manager have to supply service providers and Committee should not. However, a corrupt Manager and corrupt Committee maliciously SWITCH their functions: It is incredible that Manager often claim that he knows no better service providers and delegated back the job of selecting service providers to the Chairman. Please note that lawful delegation can only be made by Manager to his employees (section 124 of OCA).

At the buildings my people invested in, there are 3 owners who want to get total control of three blocks with 36 owners. I stood for the election for Committee (I own 4 lots). The Manager and the Committee even engaged in ELECTION FRAUDS to eliminate me and retain their grip on the Committee. They maliciously changed the election rules at the AGM without a quorum to eliminate me. The minutes of that meeting reads:
“12. APPOINTMENT OF MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE 12.1. Nominations for the committee are as follows: …12.2. It was resolved that rather than following the voting procedure set as pet item 2.2, the Owners Corporation will vote on which of the committee nominee’s (set out in item 12.1) will be elected by temporarily moving each nominee into the Zoom Waiting Room while the other members are casting their vote on whether to elect that nominee as a member of the committee, so that votes can be cast by those members without any direct or perceived influence by way of the nominee being present during their vote. Voting will be via verbal indication. ”
Changing of election rules their way is blatantly unlawful (by section 78(1) and (4)).
Application was made in July 2022 to the regulating body (called the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal) to determine if the election was conducted lawfully and the regulating body (Tribunal) gave one direction hearing after another then scheduled a Compulsory Mediation in April 2023, adding a time delay totalling to 12 months without any real hearing happening yet. The term of a Committee is normally 12 months and it would expires long before any real hearing. Justice delayed is justice denied.

Any moral support or suggestions by fellow unit owners are highly appreciated.

[tonytran2015]

Hi KayteE,
I am from Vic, and I had been in a similar situation before.

I would ask them the following awkward questions:
1. In NSW it was written in laws that any unit owner can attend Committee Meetings, why not here? Vic. OC Act requires all Committee minutes to be recorded and available for inspection by unit owners (sections 114(4), 115 OCA).
2. As the Committee Meeting helps avoid calling a Special General Meeting on those agenda items, could they exclude you from the Special General Meeing?
3. If you have the number please force the calling of a Special General Meeting with exactly the same agenda. Then they cannot exclude you from the SGM.

I have the suspicion that OCA was vague on unit owners’ right to attend Committee Meeting to make Lawyers busy and to give unfair advantage to Committee and Managing Corporation. It is similar to the kind of Legalized Corruption in QLD (Financial Review, 2020 August 01).

“Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely:. Please help fight for the rights of unit owners against abuse of power by Committees.

[tonytran2015]

It is far worse in Victoria. Here Committee claims “confidentiality” on everything, including their email discussion on Owners Corporation matters and even their
addresses. You are not to know what Committee are doing. VCAT may NOT make them reveal their activities. Civil and Administration Tribunal in Victoria is a joke. The losing side has to pay all legal costs of the other sides; you need big budget to hire the best lawyers for a win, and it costs no less than going to a County Court or Supreme Court.

Lot Owners seem to be the cash cows of OC Management.

[tonytran2015]

It is similar in Victoria.

The Owners Corporation Act 2006 of Victoria was inserted with a “benefit principle”. Now even basic clearing of blocked sewage still needs going to Tribunal to determine which one owner should pay (It is no more equally divided among all owners but would rather go fully to the few unlucky owners “who benefit the most”). This is no joke and VCAT had made few rulings that look very threatening to simple minded lot owners.

Cui bono? The Lawyers and the Management Corporations in Victoria. A new industry of Owners Corporation Legal Service has popped up; enormous number of new multi-dwelling buildings had sprung up with administrative components of levies being more than double Council rates (taxes by Council). Only the uninformed can be happy paying that much to live in those buildings.

In the long term there would be empty buildings until the laws give back some reasonable rights to lot owners.

Thr solution may be using indirect ownership through a Limited Corporation (like Company Title in the old days) which may make a comeback.

[tonytran2015]

I am an accommodation provider in Melbourne (landlord), and I feel that it is immoral to ask renters to bid.

[tonytran2015]

Problems with  (Australian) Victorian OC Act 2006 have been rightly spotted in your podcast. They are not purely theoretical, they have actually happened in many large blocks of flats recently (2022) in West Footscray, Sunshine ,… around Melbourne:

Lack of transparency by Management left lot owners in the dark unless someone is willing to spend big money to fight the laws.

It is unlike NSW where owners are allowed to attend Committee meetings ( Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 No 50 [NSW],  Schedule 2 Meeting procedures of strata committees, Section 13 Non-member owner may attend: An owner or, if the owner of a lot is a corporation, any company nominee of that corporation is entitled to attend a meeting but is not entitled to address the meeting unless authorised to do so by resolution of the strata committee.).

Too much power for Chairman combine with lack of transparency is conducive to corruption. The Chairman may bring in his service providers and pressure the Manager to approve that.

OC Act does NOT require Committee members to declare kickbacks, only Manager has to declare (sections 117, 122A, 122B)! The buck can be passed around.

At one OC in Footscray, 24 pairs of Aluminium framed windows had been actually replaced at the price of $6000 per pair while market price were only $800/pair plus labour of at most $1200/pair. Someone had made an overcharge of $4000×24 just for replacing 24 pairs of windows.

Chairman and Manager passed the buck around. They admit absolutely no responsibility. The plan was then repeated at other large blocks of flats in Sunshine by the same Chairman!

OC Act has also been inflicted with another newly created problem known  as  “benefit principle”. The benefit principle can be easily manipulated to dishonestly send the whole repair bill of any common service solely to any targeted single owner, sending him bankrupt.

These three features are currently the worst features of Victorian OC Act. They may be bad enough to send property investors out of the Victorian flats/units market.

[Author]

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