You are lucky. At least there is a work order, possibly work done and the invoice submitted for approval.
In our case when building defects work was going on, the SM paid a company owned by Strata Secretary ( as evident from the invoice ) a number of payments for TIME SPENT by Strata Secretary with lawyers / contractors without obtaining ANY approval from STRATA COMMITTEE Chairman & Treasurer or the AGM as stipulated under Section 25 of 1996 Strata Management Act.
And we couldn’t get any relief either at NSW FT or at NCAT. NCAT judge wanted us to engage a lawyer before I can even speak and no Strata lawyer was prepared to represent us because of conflict of interest.
I suggested to NSW Minister Matt Kean ( when he was looking after Strata ) to put a ceiling on number of large strata a SMA can manage.
He said it will be taken up at next review. Otherwise, we will have an oligopoly and no remedy for ANY grievance against SM.