There are times when strata committee office-bearers get themselves into trouble for no good reason, like simply failing to keep their paperwork up to date.
And there are others when they get into a spot of bother by playing fast and loose with the law and, especially, the strata scheme’s finances.
Take the case that we were alerted to this week where the chair, secretary and treasurer of the committee (that’s one person, by the way) had pushed through a by-law awarding themselves $5000 a year for the rent of part of their lot as a pump room.
The problem is, a resident has checked the records and believes the pumps are on common property so no rent is due.
And when they write to the committee to ask to see the paperwork that shows the pumps are on lot property, neither the chair, secretary nor treasurer (still one person) replies.
Is this just a case of lost deeds, contracts and by-laws? Or is the multi-tasking committee member paying themselves a wage for all their hard work (that they are not legally entitled to)?
Read the correspondence HERE and judge for yourself.
Also on the Flat Chat Forum this week …
- What can you so when religious evangelists come a’knocking – and nobody wants to know? That’s HERE.
- How do you silence a resident who consistently disrupts committee meetings despite being told that they aren’t allowed to speak? That’s HERE.
- The strata committee is proposing to rent out half the visitor spaces to private individuals to offset strata fees. Visitors parking is common property, so can they do that? That’s HERE.
- Pre-AGM electronic votes have been allowed – but the relevant forms haven’t been sent out. What can you do? That’s HERE.
- Who pays when a window lock has to be replaced because the previous tenant has taken the bolt with them when they left? That’s HERE.
There are a lot more new posts on the Forum. We had a record number of visitors last week, so check it out – the list of latest Qs and As is the easiest way in – and subscribe, to stay up to date.