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Lowanna – I think you’ll find most of your answers HERE, but if not feel free to post again.
rebekah20p – just one further comment. If your Owners Corporation ever does need to vote on a Special Resolution where that 75% figure applies, that’s not calculated as a percentage of all all Owners but rather of those who are present at the General Meeting both personally and by proxy.
Struggs – you’re correct in that your Owners Corporation (O/C) cannot make changes to its Common Property without first putting its proposal/s to Owners at a General Meeting, and having those authorised by way of a Special Resolution.
Whilst Cl 65A of the NSW Strata Schemes Management Act (1996) includes a specific reference to “changes” involving the erection of structures, and your Executive Committee’s (E/C) signage would certainly be captured by that reference, Cl 65A also states the changes that require the O/C’s prior authorisation are those proposed “for the purpose of improving or enhancing the common property”, and I’m not sure that advisory signage fits that prerequisite.
As for the E/C advising the O/C of its intentions re the signage, in normal circumstances I doubt that’s necessary given it’s hardly a big-ticket item in terms of expenditure, but if there’s any relevant restriction on expenditure by the E/C or a limit (Plans >100 Lots) then yes your O/C should have been advised.
I know that the improper use of visitor parking spaces in your Plan is a long-standing problem that you’ve been trying to address with varying degrees of success, and forgive me in advance for asking this, but have you ever lodged an Application for a Compliance with By-Law Order under S138?
If you haven’t, it would certainly give your E/C Member some hurry-up and send everyone else a message; even if you only warned him that you would go in that direction!
Twins – I tried to respond to your post last night but the hotspot I was using died as I hit “submit reply”; very frustrating.
I agree with Jimmy, if the cracked drainage pipe is below the bathtub of the Lot and above the concrete (ceiling) slab of the garage below that Lot, then it’s the Lot Owners responsibility to make the necessary repairs.
But…it’s never as straight forward as that, particularly when funds have been committed, to in this instance locate the source of the problem, and where that procedure and the problem itself have caused damage to Common Property.
When you say that “we” arranged for the plumber I hope you mean the Owners Corporation (O/C), because that’s appropriate in my opinion as the O/C is generally responsible to make repairs in circumstances where a fault within a Lot is affecting other Lots (e.g. the garage if it’s not part of the leaking Lot) and/or its Common Property.
So as Jimmy T advised, subject to any notations about Common Property on the Strata Title, unless your O/C has resolved how it will manage problems such as the leakage, or resolved to adopt one of the published Guideline Documents [by NSW Land & Property Information and by Strata Community Australia (NSW)] and registered a Special By-Law to reflect that resolution, it’s really up to precedent and common sense.
To me, common sense would entail making the plumbers task as easy as possible by the O/C arranging and paying for all necessary repairs to its Common Property and to the affected Lot/s, and by the O/C then seeking a pre-agreed reimbursement from the Lot Owner/s involved for the component of that cost that relates to works within the Lot/s concerned.
Even though our O/C has a Special By-Law clarifying “who’s responsible”, that approach has worked in my self-managed Plan where both Common and Private Property is involved in a repair, but you would need to make your own assessment with regard to yours
Even though as an Owner, you’re a member of the Owners Corporation (O/C) of your Plan, Clause 37 really relates to applications made by the Executive Committee (E/C) on behalf of the O/C as an entity; that’s why it requires advice of an E/C nominee to whom the requested information may be delivered.
Clause 108 is the appropriate option, and there’s absolutely no reason why your written request under this provision could not precisely specify the record that you wish to inspect.
By the way, the E/C cannot itself authorise expenditure on legal services if the estimated cost of those exceeds is the lesser of $1,000/Lot or $12,500.
Kiwipaul – our advice was that we couldn’t issue fines, and that’s why it’s called a “parking fee” in our SBL – even though the invoice looks somewhat like a “bluey”.
It may have been obvious, but the reason for the SBL permitting a $500 / day fee was simply to save us amending the prescribed amount as time progresses and the value of the dollar decreases; we use the “not exceeding” provisions to raise $25 / day fees which, as I said, have always been paid despite protests from a few bush lawyers.
I haven’t posted our SBL as I couldn’t find my original draft (docx) on my cloud-based hard-drive and the pdf version that I could find won’t let me cut and paste (?). If you or others are interested, I’ll try to work around the pdf and copy it here when I get time. Just let me know.
Kiwipaul – Unless clamping could be broadly covered under the definition of “distrain” (and I don’t believe it can) then the following, provided to me by a past Owner and of unknown origin, seems to comply with the advice so clearly provided by Beverley Hoskinson-Green of Makinson & d’Apice, but I suppose a clamping provision could be easily added by an O/C after appropriate legal advice:
“1 An Owner or Occupier of a lot must not park or stand any motor bike, boat, trailer, or any motor vehicle (“vehicle”) on common property except with the prior written approval of the Owners Corporation.
2 The Owners Corporation shall have the following powers and authorities, in addition to those conferred upon it by the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 and the By-laws:-
a) The power to do one or more of the following in respect of a vehicle, the property of an owner or occupier of a Lot, parked upon Common Property contrary to the By-Laws;
(i) the power to remove the vehicle from the parcel;
(ii) the power to move the vehicle within the parcel;
(iii) the power to distrain the vehicle by such reasonable means as the Owners Corporation determines; and
(iv) the power to affix a sign to the vehicle.
b) the power to recover the costs of exercising any power pursuant to this by-law from that owner or occupier as a debt in any court of competent jurisdiction”.We didn’t adopt the above but opted instead for a Special By-Law (SBL) that, after a vehicle is found to be on Common Property or on a carspace other than the one allocated to the Lot being occupied by or visited by the vehicle’s owner on three (3) occasions, and where a Notice has been placed on the vehicle on each of those occasions, permits the Owners Corporation to then issue a “parking fee not exceeding $500 per day or part thereof” to that vehicle’s owner for payment, and in default to the legal occupant of the Lot where that vehicle’s owner was an invitee.
Even with the detailed preamble to our SBL I know that there are a few loopholes, but thankfully our friendly postcard size “Notices” have mostly done the job, so our $25 Fees have been few and have always been paid by both tenants and and Owners.
Hi Yclept – you’re a Strata Manager right?
Remember that the $10K was 6 years ago, so it may have got me a few cups of coffee per day!
Seriously though, it wasn’t just the Strata Manager’s Fees and the occasional poor advice that convinced our Owners Corporation to self-manage, but moreso the fact that we could better prioritise and manage our expenditure in a way that no SM with 50+ Plans to manage could easily do; if at all.
Of course with 85% of our Units under Lease, the fact that I manage the strata for nothing was somewhat of an incentive for my Proprietor / Landlords to go that way!
Let me tell you though that preparing the budgets, managing expenditure, dealing with non-paying Proprietor / Landlords, their ignorant tenants, their equally ignorant Property Managers who expect the O/C to pay for simply everything, attending the Tribunal, preparing Agendas, Chairing General Meetings, preparing the Minutes, doing the annual safety audit, updating the sinking fund plan, drafting and registering Special By-Laws, completing / submitting insurance claims, writing work specs., getting quotes, issuing work orders, managing contractors, inspecting their works, paying the bills on-time, and keeping our website up-to-date gives me a perspective on what a real Strata Manager does and concurrently keeps my retired brain-cells moving!
Felix – Firstly, you’re correct in observing that the Executive Committee (E/C) has no authority to allocate Common Property for the personal use of resident/s; that’s a matter for the Owners Corporation (O/C) to resolve by way of a Special Resolution at a General Meeting.
It’s a shame that the CTTT Adjudicator didn’t see fit to make a ruling, but he/she still should have made an Order dismissing the Application, that should have included the reasons for that decision, and both the O/C and the Applicant should have a copy of that; right?
With regard to a further Application, there’s no reason that I’m aware of for there being but one Applicant / Application, but why would you want to head down that route once again?
Depending upon all the circumstances, including the reasons for wanting to dismiss the Strata Manager (?) and the numbers of like-minded Proprietors (in addition to the 4 you mention) who are concerned about the illegal use of the storage space and other issues, it may be better for Proprietors to requisition a General Meeting of the O/C where all the issues may be placed on the Agenda.
You can do that by drafting Agenda Items to address and resolve each of the issues, by having those endorsed by a minimum 25% of Proprietors (by unit entitlement) under the Provisions of Sch 2 Cl 31(3) of the NSW Strata Schemes Management Act (1996), and by then presenting that “requisition” to the Secretary of the E/C who must then convene a Meeting “as soon as practicable”.
In that way, your O/C is complying with the Adjudicator’s ruling, and that by the way should be the preamble to your requisition.
Further to Scotty’s post – it’s all about residents using the Common Property for its intended use, and the foyer was not intended as a storage area!
It seems to me that many residents of Strata Plans are plain lazy and expect that anything outside their front doors is for them to use in any way that they choose, and that anything on that area that’s not theirs is the Owners Corporation’s problem.
Just look at the accumulation of junk mail in and around the letterboxes, and the boxes, mattresses and similar surplus items on the ground around the garbage area!
Anyway back to the pram in the foyer, the attitude of other residents will be “whats good for the goose is good for the gander” and the problem will soon become endemic. So I’d write to your fellow Executive Committee Members (including the goose) and politely suggest that leaving prams and bicycles in the foyer and inside the entrance doors is inconsistent with the intended use of that Common Property, and that Members should both set a good example and resolve to write to all residents to inform them that leaving prams, bicycles, and other private property on Common Property is not permitted.
Yeah, sorry Mate. I realised that it was sassy72′s post later on when my eyes uncrossed, but by then your response was “awaiting moderation” so I didn’t do any editing of mine.
Maybe sassy72 will read this and let us know what eventuated.
I’m guessing that Cosmo must have resolved his issues in the 3 months since his post, but as a matter of clarification on GooBoy’s post, the Executive Committee (E/C) cannot itself make a decision on a Proprietor’s request to use Common Property in the manner suggested. That’s a matter for the Owners Corporation to take by Special Resolution at a General Meeting, perhaps on recommendation from the E/C.
What’s involved in the O/C making decisions? When I was on the Executive Committee at the time when our Plan last used the services of a Strata Manager (SM) all we did was to “approve” what the SM put before us based on his recommendations; about 10% of the work that the SM did to manage the entire Plan.
We didn’t pay “peanuts” either – I just checked the Agenda of our 2005-6 AGM, the last one before we resolved to self-manage. At that time we’d paid the SM $10,202.23 comprising their Management Fee $6,068.96, Disbursements $3,841.77, and Legal (payment reminders prepared by them) $291.50. At the time, the above amounts paid to the SM represented just over 30% of our total expenditure for our 27 Lot Plan.
A damn lot of money for an “administrator”, and even though he was more than that, we discovered post self-management that the SM had put Motions on past Agendas that we’d resolved by simple majority instead of as a Special Resolution, had tax returns prepared without showing sundry income, and his Office had late-paid so many E/C approved invoices that many Contractors simply wouldn’t quote on work that his Office put out.
Whilst there are SMs out there who will competently manage in the way that I still believe many O/Cs expect, it’s every O/C to their own; we’ll stick with self-management where I have but one Plan to worry about, and where we save ourselves a packet.
Wow, such a long question for my short response…
What a mess (it’s sewage by the way), whilst you cannot claim any costs for alternate accommodation, you can apply to the CTTT for a rent reduction (to zero if necessary) during those periods that your Unit was uninhabitable and for other costs. Read this Factsheet provided by Tenants NSW and if necessary contact them directly for clarification.
Yclept – I’m sorry, but even though your description of a Strata Manager’s role is probably based on personal experience, I strongly disagree with your interpretation.
An Owners Corporation (O/C) generally engages the services of a Strata Manager (SM) to provide it with good counsel by keeping up-to-date with changes to Statutory Requirements, to interpret those for the O/C, and to perform all the functions and activities required of an O/C and which can be delegated to a SM under relevant State & Territory Legislation (the Act).
I’ve in the past used the analogy that a SM is a Consultant to the Board of Directors (the Executive Committee), and whilst I agree that they’re not Project Managers, Facilities Managers, or any of the others you mention, the nature of the delegations granted to them by the O/C under a Strata Management Agency Agreement (Agency Agreement) almost always makes them responsible for getting all those things efficiently done (by others).
Perhaps it’s because some SM’s do regard their role as “a book keeper and co-ordination point for reports of repairs etc that need to be done” when that’s not what the O/C expects and/or it’s not in accord with the functions it’s delegated to that SM via the Agency Agreement, that many posts to this Forum are critical, and why more and more O/C’s are opting for self-management.
I agree with you that some SM’s are given too much responsibility, too many Plans to manage, and too little training and mentoring by Licensees, that some O/C’s expect to pay peanuts for “all the bells and whistles”, and that some SM’s under quote and are then forced to under-deliver.
Whilst the first three (above) are something for the Strata Industry to address, and they need to in my opinion, surely the latter two can be addressed by the O/C’s “wants” and the SM’s costs to provide those being clearly stated in some competitive Proposals, after which the O/C can decide upon and agree with the SM about what it really needs and is prepared to pay for before that’s enunciated in the Agency Agreement, which I must say in standard form is one of the better “contracts” that I’ve seen.