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There’s less opportunity for reading errors and less cost for Water Supply Authorities to read and maintain one meter that records the supply to all Lots and the Common Property in a Strata Plan and to invoice the Owners Corporation for the total, than it is for them to read and maintain the individual meters fitted to each of those Lots, to invoice the Owners for their respective components of the total consumption, and to invoice the Owners Corporation for the difference.
That’s why, even when individual meters are fitted, there’s still little incentive amongst many Water Authorities to read them, and why it’s still illegal for anyone other than a Designated Water Supply Authority to charge for water obtained from a public supply; that includes Owners Corporations, but who’s checking?
In my opinion the position taken by the Executive Committee (E/C) and the Strata Manager is correct, and I’m sure you’ll find that Council would adopt an identical position, in that it may review your plans and provide guidance / advice, but would not grant consent to anyone other than the property Owner or their authorised Agent.
Perhaps you should contact your Solicitor / Conveyancer to ensure that they send the S118 Notification immediately after settlement, and again with the provision of guidance / advice in mind, additionally contact the Strata Manager to ascertain if consent to renovations of the type that you’re proposing is within the purview of the E/C, or whether those may need to be considered by the Owners Corporation at a (extraordinary) General Meeting.
That’s usually the case, although as logical as it is there’s no requirement for Strata Managers to keep notices of meetings, agendas, and minutes in the one file.
You may be surprised about how many Strata Managers still don’t keep electronic records, so your best bet would be to tell the Strata Manager precisely what records you want to see in advance of the day, and hope that they oblidge by at least making the relevant files available – and hopefully they’re not of the lever-arch variety!
dech – clearly you’ve got an agenda, and whilst I hope your pockets are deep enough to persue that, this whole debate to me seems reminiscent of those public consultation processes where a proponent would state their preferred option, where lots of butcher’s paper would faithfully record participants’ comments and advice, whereupon the proponent’s moderator would expertly conclude that the majority gave credance to the originally preferred option.
Most were left satisfied until they thought about it, and it’s not too late for you to do that. Best of British though!
…and of course despite mandatory Condition Reports (tenancy) and pre-purchase inspections commissioned and/or personally made by the purchaser, none of the Owners or any of the Agents involved in the rental/s and in the sale process noticed that the door closer was missing; really?
Or is just a case of none of those worrying about it on the basis that a simple e-mail from the Rental Agent (who’s supposed to be a Property Manager) would see the O/C pick-up the tab!
I agree that due to the complications and possibly the cost it’s not worth pursuing, but it’s an example of what too often happens when Property Managers, some of whom really do precious little for their fee, are able to provide some justification by shifting the costs of Owner/Landlords’ maintenance to O/Cs via compliant Strata Managers.
OK, so one sensible suggestion would be to enforce the standard By-Law that applies to all (NSW) Strata Plans depending upon their date of Registration, where the one for Plans Registered in 1996 states:
Garbage disposal
An owner or occupier of a lot:
(a) must maintain within the lot, or on such part of the common property as may be authorised by the owners corporation, in clean and dry condition and adequately covered a receptacle for garbage, and
(b) must ensure that before refuse is placed in the receptacle it is securely wrapped or, in the case of tins or other containers, completely drained, and
(c) for the purpose of having the garbage collected, must place the receptacle within an area designated for that purpose by the owners corporation and at a time not more than 12 hours before the time at which garbage is normally collected, and
(d) when the garbage has been collected, must promptly return the receptacle to the lot or other area referred to in paragraph (a),
(e) must not place any thing in the receptacle of the owner or occupier of any other lot except with the permission of that owner or occupier, and
(f) must promptly remove any thing which the owner, occupier or garbage collector may have spilled from the receptacle and must take such action as may be necessary to clean the area within which that thing was spilled.
This By-Law requires residents to each “work” for their own benefit, and if they don’t comply, then the Executive Committee (E/C) could meet and determine to issue offenders with Notice to Comply with a By-Law, and whilst that could lead to Mediation that might just result in the polite and sensible solutions that you seek.
You could additionally talk to your Council’s Health Department about your issues, including about one bin/lot as the By-Law implies, and they could lean on the E/C, but be careful with this as the By-Law also places some obligations on the Owners Corporation and it would need to ensure that those were in place and fully compliant.
Based on some recent posts by others, I’m guessing that the Owner concerned may have removed the door closer because of the noise then made by those doors when they slammed shut. I only mention that because most closers are adjustable, and your Owners Corporation (O/C) may want to have them adjusted to get the best balance between proper door closure and any resultant noise.
Anyway back to your question, provided your O/C knows conclusively which Owner removed the original door closer, then YES it can invoice them for the costs of its replacement.
The best way to do that and to maximise the chances of a prompt payment is to:
1) Advise the Owner in writing of the O/C’s intention to invoice them for the costs, why, and that such unauthorised changes to the Common Property are illegal under Sect 65A of the NSW Strata Schemes Management Act (1996); and depending upon any response received (such as denial),
2) Include the amount as a separate line item on that Owner’s next invoice for their Levy Contributions, as in that way at least the cost will remain as a “debt against the lot” if and until it’s paid in full.
By the way, the Strata Manager is employed by the O/C and whilst any advice that they may give should be given proper consideration, at the end of the day they must act lawfully and in accordance with the O/C’s instructions.
A special by-law would apply to all residents, but quite frankly any suggestion that one could be applied to compel those residents to participate in a bin-roster is perhaps one of the silliest things that I’ve come across to date. I understand that it wan’t your suggestion by the way.
You say that paying a cleaner to put the bins out was not an option; why is that?
What about paying the grounds maintenance person, or a Member of the Executive Committee?
DD – it’s certainly possible, but Councils don’t usually permit it unless the structure is properly supported by foundations that are placed outside the zone of influence.
So what does that mean?
Well…. it means that the foundations of any structure need to be placed such that the weight of the structure and whatever’s within it doesn’t damage whatever pipes are below and within the easement, and so that it everything won’t collapse into an excavated trench if pipes are at some later time placed within that easement.
Frankly though, most Council’s wouldn’t be concerned about a garden shed or similar pre-fabricated structure on a concrete slab, as the gross weight would be unlikely to create a significant load on anything below, and if excavation was necessary the structure could be easily be dismantled.
I’m always seeking and advising others to take the least confrontationist approach and in compliance with the Act and the Regulation, but the suggestion that an E/C could instruct a building manager to obstruct legitimate access to people visiting an Owner is ludicrous.
As a member of the O/C it’s YOU that approves the engaging of the Building Managers and it’s your money that contributes to their payment, so if you’re unwilling or unable to wait until the next E/C Meeting for a decision then you need to make that clear to your Building Manager, and make it clear to your E/C, in writing, that:
1) if a decision on your proposed works is not given within 7 days then you’ll be arranging for your tradespeople to commence work; and
2) if access to those tradespeople visiting your Lot is obstructed in any way, then you’ll be contacting the Police to arrange for those visitors to be escorted directly across the common property to your premises; and
3) if consent is not granted, then you’ll be seeking Orders for your works to be carried out under Sect 140 of the SCMA.
I hope your E/C sees common sense, but if you need to adopt the shock-and-awe approach, the E/C may be still be able to insist that your tradespeople don’t leave their equipment / tools/ materials etc anywhere on the common property except within their vehicle/s, that could be legally in any dedicated visitors’ parking area/s.
That would complicate the issue in my opinion, but in any event it’s the O/C that has the absolute responsibility to decide if there’s a maintenance problem with its property, and if there is a problem, how to best address it – it shouldn’t abrogate that!
In addition, it’s in fact easier for an O/C to add and collect an additional fee, that’s been agreed to and minuted at an AGM, as a separate line item on an Owner’s Levy Contributions Invoice than it is for that O/C to reimburse an Owner for a cost that they’ve incurred via a third-party.
It really comes back to how certain your O/C is that there’s no structural problem with the balcony – perhaps find out the costs of an opinion as opposed to a full-blown report and go from there; it may be cheaper than you think and at least then your O/C would have some basis for its decision.
Perhaps have a chat with Integrated Building Consultancy – they’re sponsors of FlatChat.
alinka – all that’s necessary not to accept or to amend the Minutes is a simple majority vote by those persons present both personally and by proxy at the AGM, and it doesn’t matter whether that vote is determined by a head-count or by units of entitlement; 51% wins!
With regard to the balcony, the Owners Corporation (O/C) has an absolute responsibility to properly maintain its Common Property, and an absolute ability to determine by a simple majority at an AGM what it considers, with advice as appropriate, is and is not necessary in order to fulfil that responsibility.
If the situation is as you describe and the balcony Owner just wants piece of mind, then perhaps suggest that the O/C engages a Structural Engineer and that the Owner pays their costs if, as you suggest, the Report shows that there are no issues.
Just ensure that if your O/C goes that way that the Engineer is made fully aware of the backround, and that the O/C wants their professional opinion on structural safety and not on a grab-bag of unrelated observations such as hair-line cracking of surfaces or mortar, brick-growth, moisture, and mould that are included by some to embellish their Report.
ants – assuming sufficient funds in the Sinking Fund, wouldn’t it be easier for the Owners Corporation (O/C) to simply pay its Contractor to undertake all the electrical works required, and for individual Owners to only themselves pay that Contractor for anything extra such as additional / double-powerpoints to replace singles within their Units?
You could well find that as the O/C’s Contractor has already inspected the wiring within individual Units and therefore knows the building’s distribution system (backbone), that the resultant ease of installation, less need for coordination with other Contractors, and less invoicing would result in a lesser cost overall (i.e. O/C + Owners’) – and everyone’s sharing the costs derived from the funds that they’ve already contributed.
Just a thought….. unless of course there’s not enough in the Sinking Fund (?).
The Owners Corporation (i.e. you and the other owners) is entitled to whatever information it regards as necessary to make an informed decision by way of a vote at the AGM.
You and like-minded Owners need to sign a letter to whoever it is that’s convening the AGM, likely the E/C Secretary or the Strata Manager, and tell them in order for any Motion on proposed major works to be properly considered, that you require “decent, understandable plans and quotes” (and indeed anything else that you deem necessary) to be provided to all Owners together with the Agenda.
If that’s not provided, then you and others in attendance at the AGM can again vote the proposal down – but be mindful of the need for like minded Owners to attend the Meeting and of the need to be mindful that Members of your E/C may have gathered sufficient proxies to ram through their project.
Finally, depending upon the nature of the proposed major works, anything that could be regarded as an alteration, addition, or change to the Common Property needs a vote in favour by ≥75% of those in attendance at the AGM (incl. proxies), with that percentage determined by units of entitlement (a “poll vote”); that’s a Special Resolution as opposed to one determined by a simple majority.
demonaz – that’s a good approach so long as an informal discussion with whoever is present after the conclusion of the Meeting will resolve your issues, but if you want those issues to be formally resolved, then the only way to do that is to submit an Item to your Executive Committee Secretary or Strata Manager (whoever is organising the Meeting) for inclusion on the Agenda for the AGM.
Good luck with whatever approach you take.