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bonbon said…..the bylaw they sent me said 21 days notice.
What By-Law are you referring to, because it sounds like the Owners Corporation may already have something in place that relates to Owners renovating their Lots?
In the meantime and subject to your further advice, I’m inclined to agree with you (and Tess – post #2) in that as the tiles etc aren’t the original ones installed when the Plan was Registered, then what you propose doesn’t involve any areas of the Common Property.
Similarly, provided the plumbing and electrical works are undertaken by properly licensed tradespeople and only service your Lot, then you need only give your O/C a minimum 14 days notice of your intention to alter those services before going ahead in accordance with any requirements that the O/C may advise beforehand, such as with its permitted hours of work.
There are remedies to the O/C unreasonably delaying a decision, but perhaps clarify that By-Law matter before we get into that.
little voice – I don’t know in what forum the Owners Corporation (O/C) has said “no” to your request, but that decision may only be made at a General Meeting and not by your Executive Committee, which I suspect may have been the forum in question (?).
By all means check your Title Plan, but I agree with the others here who’ve suggested that the existing garage doors would almost certainly be common property, and therefore any request by you to replace those would need to be decided by the O/C as a whole, where ≥75% of those Owners in attendance at the General Meeting would need to vote in favour of your proposal in order for consent to be granted.
So submit a formal Motion to your Secretary (or to your Strata Manager if that role has been delegated to them) outlining what it is that you propose and why, advise that you are prepared to meet the cost supplying and installing of the roller-doors, and that you’ll maintain them thereafter, and perhaps lobby other Owners between now and that Meeting so that you can achieve that 75% majority vote.
If your proposal is consented, then strictly speaking your O/C should draft and register a Special By-Law (SBL) to formalise your maintenance, repair, and replacement responsibilities for the roller-doors, and if it’s likely that other Owners will in future make future requests of that same type (as yours), then the O/C should cover the costs of that SBL.
If you don’t receive consent, then polish your walking stick and apply for mediation of your proposal, and depending upon how that goes you can at your discretion apply to for the matter to be adjudicated upon by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
A lot of rigmarole for what should be a simple procedure I agree, but that’s how it is in NSW I’m afraid, where there’s no differentiation between minor changes to the Common Property such as yours, and major ones such as when Owners propose to significantly renovate their entire Lots.
nyonyakay – I believe that an application under Sect 162 is the way to cautiously proceed, as Sect 183B refers to the Tribunal itself appointing a Strata Managing Agent (i.e. autonomously) in circumstances such as where it’s hearing a application or an appeal on a matter related to the effectiveness of a Scheme’s management and/or operations, and concludes during those deliberations that the Scheme is question is dysfunctional to the extent that such an appointment is required.
Cautiously because an statutorily appointed Strata Manager can effectively do as they see fit, with no regard to the wishes of the Owners Corporation!
…additionally, as matters involving a caretaker agreement (contract) may be taken under a simple majority vote by those present at a General Meeting (incl. by proxy), I don’t understand how this person can effectively control your Scheme with just 40% of the max possible votes.
As both provisions of the Strata Schemes Management Act that you and KWP have referenced do apply, so do the terms of the caretaker’s agreement, so I think your Owners Corporation needs to seek the advice of a lawyer who’s experienced in contract law.
Habermas – on the assumption that your 100 yo building is covered by Strata as opposed to Community Title, then provided the “studio apartment” complies with relevant building codes for a habitable dwelling, amongst other things in terms of ceiling height, windows in sleeping areas, bathroom/toilet facilities, and fire safety, and with the tenancy regulations for water efficient fittings and electricity isolators / metering etc then so far as I’m aware there’s no other limitation on the Owners Corporation (O/C) renting or leasing that area of its Common Property provided its decision on that property “dealing” is resolved by ≥75% of those voting in favour (incl. by proxy) at a General Meeting; that is by special resolution.
The sale of that area is a little more complex, as in addition to that same special resolution to approve of that “dealing” and the building code / occupation compliance, the O/C would have to undertake a Strata Sub-Division involving in part commissioning a valuation of the “studio apartment” in order to perform a redistribution of the aggregate units-of-entitlement (UOE) of the Scheme (if only to allocate a UOE and therefore levies to the studio), to have the Strata Plan redrawn, to obtain the consent of the Local Council, and to have all of that Registered with NSW Land & Property Information (incorporating the former Land Titles Office).
The latter process is a little complex from the perspective of matters being handled in the correct sequence, but any lawyer with strata or property development expertise should be able to assist.
Albeit from a different perspective, there’s been a recent discussion on Flat-Chat about strata-experienced lawyers HERE.
Marvin – almost 12 months ago when you sought advice about the installation of an air conditioner, it was then stated that:
….. unless there will never be a circumstance where other Owners will seek the O/C’s consent to install aircon systems (unlikely?), then it’s entirely reasonable for your O/C, which includes you by the way, to pay for the drafting and Registration of a generic Special By-Law covering such installations.
This would give your Executive Committee the ability to itself grant future consents, and thereby avoid a Motion at a General Meeting on every occasion that an Owner wants to install an aircon system and further Special By-Laws of the same type (and presumably further $1K payments by Owners) for each consent.
So the answer to your latest query is YES, although as the conditions attached to a consent for air conditioners and to awnings would necessarily differ (e.g. operating times for the former), it’s preferable to have a generic Special By-Law for each or at least for similar items.
Cappy – your Strata Manager is right, and so is Peter about tighter controls on the majority of the Executive Committee (which is what you’re after) having the potential to paralyse your Owners Corporation’s (O/C) decision making process.
One way forward is to cautiously exercise the compulsory Motion on the Agenda for each Annual General Meeting where those present can elect to have decisions on certain items or types of matters determined only by the O/C (and not its Executive Committee) at a General Meeting.
That process, if properly considered and then passed by a majority, would enable whatever degree of control that is conservatively deemed necessary to be implemented, but again a word of caution about the potential for the resultant General Meetings that may result giving rise to both paralysis of the O/C’s decision making process and indifference by Owners.
A further option to achieve better control is to insist that the approved annual budgets list as many items (accounts) and associated expenditures as are necessary and anticipated, and avoid generic / catch-all items such as “general repairs” and “plumbing” maintenance”. As an example in our Plan, the historic admin. budget for “grounds maintenance” into which a plethora of expenditures was historically dumped, was replaced with “lawn maintenance”, “garden maintenance”, “cleaning”, and “maintenance of shared facilities”.
MNS – I edited your last post to avoid identifying who your strata managers are, but as neither their size or yours matters, my advice is is as before.
Contact Strata Community Australia NSW with your concerns and allow them to take up your case. If I’m any judge, I’ll bet that the Licensee of the Office that you’re dealing with doesn’t have the slightest clue about the difficulties that you’ve been experiencing with the individual Strata Manager concerned.
MNS – on the basis of your posts here and elsewhere on FlatChat it’s obvious that you (at least) have a problem with your Strata Manager’s performance.
So in advance of the next General Meeting where you and like-minded Owners could bring him to heel, have a look at the website maintained by the peak industry body, in particular peruse their constitution and code-of-ethics under the “members” tab, and then give them a call to see if your Strata Manager or his Company is a member.
Hopefully he or his Company is a member, and the industry body can be your “plunger”.
kitten – I’m inclined to think that at some stage there would have been one (1) hotwater heater for each Unit in your Plan, and that as those progressively failed somebody (possibly the Strata Manager) has expediently arranged for the hotwater supply to those units to be connected to the single hotwater heater that’s still operational; yours!
However without confirmation by a qualified electrician you still can’t prove to the Mediator and to your Owner/Landlord that the electricity usage of that now remaining hotwater heater is recorded only on the meter that records the supply to your unit.
If you don’t want to pay for an electrician or to sneakily turn OFF the hotwater heater as has been suggested, then contact your electricity retailer (who issues your accounts) and ask them to have the electricity distributor for your area (e.g. Ausgrid or Endeavour Energy) send somebody out to check your meters and connections.
Tell your retailer about the very high usage (kW/h) being recorded by your meters relative to the numbers of residents in your unit, and IF the hotwater is separately shown on your account then give them that usage (kW/h), but don’t confuse the issue by referring to what you think is happening with the supply.
If your issues are well received, then make sure that you’re at home when the distributor’s representative arrives, because that’s when you should tell them what you suspect is happening, and when they’ll check it out and if necessary issue a Notice to your Owner/Landlord to have the wiring properly connected.
In the unlikely event that you get no joy from your retailer, then immediately dispute their account in its entirety and lodge a complaint with the Energy and Water Ombudsman.
That’s far preferable approach in my opinion to you trying to argue logic with the often narrowly focused Mediators at the Department of Fair Trading, although the “fix” will likely be to have the hotwater tank connected to the electricity circuit that services only common property, and that will present another problem with determining with how the individual Owner/Landlords will apportion the Owners Corporation’s electricity accounts for what will then be a communal hotwater service.
kitten – apartmentalize’s idea is a good one, but turning off the electricity supply to the hotwater tank from the isolator (switch) in your unit’s electricity supply cabinet is a better and safer idea than turning off its water supply, and notwithstanding what you’ve already found out, that too will confirm definitively whether or not the communal hotwater service is actually supplied from there.
Please come back when you’ve done that and confirmed the situation.
I’ve never seen a definitive listing, but off the top of my head a Special Resolution is needed for Motions involving the amendment, repeal, or creation (of new) By-Laws, for any change, addition, or alteration to the Common Property by the Owners Corporation (O/C) or by an Owner, for providing a discount on or not charging interest for levy contributions (e.g. for early and late payment respectively), for any “dealing” involving any part of the Common Property (e.g. a sale, or the granting of an easement/right-of-way), or granting to or removing an exclusive use privilege from an Owner (only with that Owner’s prior written consent in the latter case).
A Unanimous Resolution is required for Motions involving the distribution of surplus funds of the O/C to Owners, the winding-up of the Strata Scheme, and for not having building insurance cover and/or a sinking fund in two (2) Lot Schemes only.
Unless I’ve missing anything (in which case someone will jump in), all Motions involving other matters require a decision by simply majority (51%), and in the case where a “poll vote” is requested that majority is determined by the lot units of entitlement of those voting in favour expressed as a percentage of all those who vote (incl. by proxy).