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Hi Darnell,
It is a sad reality of strata that no matter how blatant the breach of strata laws, fairness and equity by one or more strata committee members, the only way to stop them is for other owners and strata committee members to stand up to them.
The sort of lobbying mentioned by Cosmo can help achieve change, if it opens the eyes of others to what is going on and how things could be done a lot better.
Applications to NCAT may address the more egregious actions of a bullying few, but a campaign to engage owners and open their eyes to what is going on is the only way to deal with a pervasive culture of self interest and non compliance.
If to begin with you only have one or two allies, you can build on this by together creating a newsletter with a positive message about how your scheme could be transformed eg. Putting more of the levies into the capital works fund to pay for essential maintenance and improvements that will help maintain the value of your building. Include some pictures.
Resist the temptation to explain to owners what is wrong with the current committee and the inequity of the actions of one or two members. This will just lead to threats of legal action for libel, probably unfounded but distracting. Remember…Owners do not want to hear bad news, no matter how bad the bad, and you will get more support in painting a vision for a better building.
You won’t change hearts and minds in a single newsletter but regular contact with other owners can win support for your thinking. Many will be coy about being outspoken but they can help your case when it comes to the AGM.
You mentioned that the AGM is well overdue – it has to be held once in every financial year – If you can alert the strata manager towards holding this, think about motions that you, and those of like mind, can put on the agenda eg. That the strata committee does not depart from the budget / exceed budget estimates without the explicit agreement of owners. And…. most importantly stand for election to the strata committee not as single person who can be outvoted, but as a group of 2 or 3 like minded owners bent on change.
On a more hopeful note, it is amazing how often strata bullies collapse when they sense they have more than one person against them
Kind regards
John Hutchinson
m: 0418 797470 e: john.hutchinson@strataanswers.com.au
S T R A T A A N S W E R S PTY LTD practical solutions for strata living
abn 11 600 590 083
http://www.strataanswers.com.au