[Ziggy]

Thanks Jimmy, I’ll follow your suggestion re sustainability renovations.

Just out of curiosity, is there a time limitation on decisions made at general meetings? So, if a motion to approve the double glazing of doors was unaminously accepted by the owners at the meeting over two years ago, can the SC demand that the owners go to a meeting again over the matter?

[Ziggy]

Hi Jimmy, my issue of double glazing continues. Take the words “installing double or triple glazed windows” for instance. Does that only include the glass or the glass AND the frame? That is, replacing the lot with exactly similar style, dimensions, colour etc.

Now I’m being told I need a by-law because it’s a major renovation and requires one. Our previous SM and SC approved the works but this SM and SC will have none of it. It has taken two years to get the documentation of the works sent to me because of government processes.

You suggest an easier way to go would be the Special Sustainability Resolution. Would having double glazing come under that resolution? And why?

 

[Ziggy]

Thanks OptusJo. I have kept every email I have from Strata for the last 14 years! Including, many from a previous Strata Manager guiding me through the process of the general meeting where the owners approved the installation of new doors. I even have an email asking the SM to check that the minutes were correct before sending them out to owners. They were immediately sent without any rebuttal.

So I wonder if there is any reason the current SC, or the OC, can knock back my proposal to have new double glazed doors?

[Ziggy]

Hi Jimmy, two questions concerning the above discussions.

Our owners corporation approved at a General Meeting by special resolution that I can double glaze the doors and windows in my Lot under Minor Renovations. I have done the windows (under a previous SC) and have just received the quote for the doors. The current SC wants to hold an SC meeting before approving, or not, the works. Is this necessary? Even legal? Or just another way of controlling the matter? Basically, a personal vendetta against me.

In addition, the current SC and SM ensured a lot owner apply for a DA without notifying owners. It also approved the DA and changed our Bylaw re the matter, despite the owner, who is on the SC and is not an owner, misleading council regarding their application.

Under the new SSMA laws, what are my options please?

[Ziggy]

Just out of curiosity, Jimmy, what part does our new strata commissioner play in the day to day running of a strata scheme? For instance, here are the new rules for strata committees:

• requiring committee members “to exercise [their] functions with honesty and fairness, with due care and diligence and for the benefit, as far as practicable, of the owners corporation”;
• requiring committee members “to comply with the [Act] and the regulations under the [Act]”;
• requiring committee members “to not behave in a way that unreasonably affects a person’s lawful use or enjoyment of a lot in the strata scheme or the common property”;
• requiring committee members to undertake training – committee members “who [fail] to complete the required training will cease to be a member of the committee”; and
• to lower the threshold to remove an office bearer at a general meeting to a simple majority (currently a special resolution).

Is it still up to owners to go through the drawn out process of mediation then NCAT to prove their SC is breaking some/all of the above?

[Ziggy]

You’re not a misanthrope Jimmy. You’re a realist. I live in an “oligarchy” where my priorities and opinions aren’t even considered, I’m bullied and harassed, belittled and humiliated to owners, and completely sidelined. Misinformation and subterfuge from my strata committee are rife. And guess what? Not one of the members lives in the building.

I wonder why the new strata laws didn’t mandate that at least one owner on a strata committee should live in the building.

[Ziggy]

Jimmy, you forgot to ask the OC/SC if they’ll be around in five years time when they get around to doing anything.

[Ziggy]

Complicated for sure. For instance, can an owner, who organised and oversaw the procurement of a quote for the repairs of common property on their lot ask the strata manager or strata committee for a copy of that quote without having to fork out $31?

What about an owner who is the emergency on-site contact for a unit block on the NSW Strata Hub? Should they have a copy of the strata roll so they know who is living where (or not) when the fire brigade turns up in an emergency?

[Ziggy]

Controlling those lines of communication can be devastating for some owners. I know of an SC member who repeatedly sends abusive and extremely misleading emails to owners criticising and white anting a particular person. That single owner is left powerless. They don’t have the strata roll to defend themselves to everyone. And pleas to the SC member to send out their response to criticisms is refused.

The only way left for that person is NCAT. Like the strata manager banned for life, can that be possible for dodgy or vengeful SC members?

[Ziggy]

Thanks very much Shortcrust.

I was recently advised by a strata lawyer that NCAT is loathed to get involved in removing any lawbreakers from an SC. For whatever reason. NCAT seems to take the side of the “owners corporation”. But the OC could simply be made up of SC members only. In other words, the only owners who turn up at meetings are members of the strata committee.

I wonder what other lawyers think?

Maybe the new strata laws will strengthen owners’ abilities to remove SC members who don’t abide by the laws. Fair and HONEST!

Here’s a link to one case re Section 37 of the SSMA:

https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/1968eac47d75ded33b39dfc4

[Ziggy]

Good points about Strata Managers, they always claim they discussed the matter on the phone.

So what misdemeanours can an SC commit, with proven, written evidence, that would warrant them being removed by orders from NACT?

[Ziggy]

Why is it so difficult for owners in NSW to get their strata committee/owners corporation to repair damaged common property. At a recent General Meeting the owners, including the SC, of my strata complex voted no to repairing common property in my unit ie water damage and rainwater ponding. They have repaired other units.

Why do owners then have the long expensive battle to get these lawbreakers to abide by their mandatory duty to maintain and repair common property.

Can an owner get the work done and then send the bill to the OC or strata manager to approve payment?

[Ziggy]

Thanks so much everyone for your guidance. So do as Philcon suggests. Request NCAT to order the OC to pay for the repairs for which I have received an expert report and for the amount I paid for that expert report. Is that possible? And wouldn’t it be better to get two expert reports? However, there is one quote that the SC refuses to send me.

Meanwhile, the ponding worsens by the day; it’s now eating through the waterproof membrane.

How about interim orders? I have been asking to have the problem fixed since May last year. What about Section 232(2) Failure to exercise a function?

[Ziggy]

I believe, from quotes received, it needs repairing. In others words, laying and grading new concrete on the slab so that pooling rainwater drains efficiently away to nearby downpipes. New waterproofing paint will then be applied.

I haven’t dared touch it; besides its fenced off and I could risk certain death if I climbed over the fence as the boundary wall of the building is only 600mms or so high.

[Ziggy]

Jimmy, it’s been six months since I asked the Strata Committee and Owners Corporation at a recent meeting that ponding of rainwater on my balcony on the common property floor be repaired. The OC, including the members of the SC, have not approved my motion. In addition, I’ve been told by the SC that I’m changing common property and therefore has nothing to do with Section 106 of the SSMA 2015, which mandates that the OC has a duty to maintain and repair common property.

Where to now?

[Author]

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