Elsewhere in this post
Here at Flat Chat we love it when clever-clogs committee members manipulate meetings to get the result they want … but then turn out to be not quite as smart as they think they are.
This week’s case centres on a patch of common property that is a bit of an eyesore and could do with a clean-up.
Flatchatter Huyton Huntly did the right thing and proposed a motion to his/her block’s next AGM that the scheme divert some cash and the gardener’s efforts to cleaning up the area.
But when Huyton got to the meeting, there on the agenda, several items before the clean-up request, was a motion that the area shouldn’t be touched.
Obviously a majority of the committee, presumably in apartments from which they couldn’t see the mess, decided to pre-empt the clean-up proposal.
Thus Huyton had to sit through all the arguments (supported by the committee) for not doing anything, long before the motion to clean up the area was even raised, by which time it was dead in the water.
Basically, the calculated order of the motions on the agenda had killed the clean-up stone dead.
Suspecting collusion between the strata manager and the do-nothing committee, Huyton asked which motion was proposed first. The strata manager said they couldn’t remember.
Is that the end of it? Well, it depends on what a Tribunal thinks is the definition of the word “maintain”.
You see, owners corporations have a legal duty to maintain and repair common property and while they can decided by a special resolution not to do so, that only applies if it doesn’t affect the appearance of the scheme.
Could it be that a challenge to the jiggery-pokery leaves the committee not only cleaning up common property but wiping off the egg on their faces? Put in your ten cents worth HERE.
Elsewhere on the Forum
- Will having their phone numbers and email addresses available to all owners, tenants and rental agents deter people from standing for committee offices? That’s on our podcast and it’s HERE.
- Discussion continues on whether a strata scheme can legally get rid of its TV aerial. That’s HERE.
- The full story about the torching of a strata secretary’s car. That’s HERE.
How to ask and answer questions
Anyone can read our posts any time but now there are several easy ways you can search, access, ask questions and reply to others’ queries.
The best way these days may be to click on “Forum: Your Qs & A’s” on the top menu bar on a computer screen or on the drop-down menu (three lines) on the right of the screen on phones and tablets, under the Strata Choice ad. Then click on the topic title that interests you, and off you go.
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