This week we’ve got a bolshie owner who has 50 per cent of the vote and who won’t pay for things he hasn’t approved. Can you force him to fork out? Maybe, under strata law, schemes can be required to do a lot of things whether the majority of owners want to or not.
However, this bloke says the scheme isn’t even strata – it’s dual occupancy, whatever that is. Anyone have any ideas?
This is just one of the new posts that’s come in via our new mailbox system that allows you to send us a question on a website form.
This new, easier way to ask questions on the Flat Chat Forum has been a big hit, but there’s something missing.
What do you do if you know the answer or have some advice? We love hearing from Flatchatters who have faced the same dilemmas as our Mailbox readers and might even have found a solution. The usual way to contribute is to register then login and give us the benefit of your wisdom.
However, that is a hassle-too-far for a lot of people but I can’t think of another way of doing it without opening the Forum up to all sorts of trolls and trouble-makers. If anyone can think of a way of making the Forum more accessible, please let me know.
Meanwhile the Forum rolls along with a couple of heartfelt pleas to unravel some strata confusion in this week’s edition.
One Flatchatter can’t understand how all the villas in his complex are responsible for their own maintenance but it appears to be a strata scheme. We think we know the answer and it’s HERE.
Another reader has a neighbour who insists their adjoining small apartment blocks aren’t strata but instead a “double dual occupancy” and so he won’t pay for anything that he doesn’t want, such as cleaning the roof and the driveway, or repainting the garage doors to match the block’s new colour scheme. That’s HERE.
One Flatchatter wants to know what the story is with EV charging in strata. Good question, especially since the law is about to change to make it much easier to get EV charging in your parking space. That’s HERE.
And one long-time strata owner who’s done his scheme’s gardens for years for a cut-price fee (he’s a landscaper by trade) has been undercut and usurped by an outsider. That’s HERE.
Meanwhile we’ve had a lot of suggestions on how to deal with the neighbour who talks loudly, smokes and even has sex on his balcony. That’s HERE.
And there’s advice for the Vic Flatchatter who wants to convert their Company Title flats to strata. That’s HERE.
So much easier to ask and answer questions
Anyone can read our posts at any time, and now you can also ask questions anonymously on this link. Your posts will appear under the generic “Mailbox” heading.
As part of our continuing efforts to make the Forum more accessible, we are also now making it possible for anyone to click on “reply” and respond to published posts.
The first time you do it you will have to provide an email address (which won’t be visible on the Forum) and a nickname (which will).
The responses will still be moderated, so we can filter out the minority of internet nasties.
However, since this website is self-filtering – it’s only read by intelligent and engaged people like you – the moderation will only require a light touch.
So let’s give it a go. Just click “reply” at the top of the post you want to respond to and don’t forget to check the box saying you want to be kept informed of any further responses.
That way you’ll get an alert whenever the discussion moves forward, and you can also chip in with your own comments and questions. See you in the Forum soon.