I wish I had seen this article BEFORE I bought my unit in Darling Point!
When we moved in there were nearly daily nasty little pos it notes in the lift accusing other owners of theft of newspaper, accusing owners of leaving lights on in the common car park area, accusing owners of feeding birds, accusing owners of scratching entry and exit doors, such trivial personal peeves written up as if they were government legislation.. There are just over 10 owners in our block,, so clearly there were some very unhappy stressed residents, or, possibly a demented bird-feeding, electricity bill careless, newspaper thieving resident. In addition, every day a new rule seemed to be announced, always by the self appointed “boss” of the strata block. All of the owners were long term residents well into their golden years, who still saw the building as “new” as it was when they purchased in the early 1980s and were not sensitive to the regular maintenance needed on any building. My recommendation would be to check the history of the owners, look for evidence that maintenance issues have been logged and dealt with, and evidence that the owners are motivated to deal with maintenance.
If I had been alert to the items you have noted as warning signs, I would have been aware that the abundance of (stolen) rusty local supermarket shopping trolleys left in foyers, some blocking the fire doors, the individual customisation of external balcony glass, the laundry hung out to dry on balconies, the post-it notes, and the lack of any minutes of Strata Meetings, would all indicate a failed Executive Committee and a corresponding serious deficit in maintenance. Big mistake.
Fortunately, with some energy from new owners the EC has got on to the main maintenance deficits, but there has been no growth in the value of the units in our property, and unlikely to be any growth in the near term, as the list of maintenance issues is still long. During the boom of the last 3 years, in an appealing suburb like Darling Point, that is a glaring anomaly.