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The committee discussed legal advice after we had left the meeting, agreed that we alone would be responsible for costs and recorded that in their minutes.
All that means is that they can apply for costs should this go to a Tribunal or court. There is definitely no guarantee that they would be successful (far from it). I would put this down to window dressing on their part, to try to scare you off and impress other owners.
You might want to write to the committee and strata manager to point out that they may not incur charges on your behalf, as that would be illegal, and that they are unlikely to win costs at NCAT because the grounds for that happening are extremely limited.
In other words, if they chose to hire lawyers to fight this, that is a cost they are imposing on all owners and definitely not just you. NSW strata law is quite clear on this – all costs have to be borne by all owners based on their unit entitlements, except on the rare occasions where a tribunal or court rules otherwise.
The building plan shows the Lots with car space and storage area – hence creating rules to restrict it would be highly improper.
Is it restricting or controlling? The owners corp is entitled to control what you do on your lot when it affects, for instance, what can be seen from outside or common property or the safety of the building. That’s why you are right to try to get a standardised look and form of storage for everyone and demand more information about the fire safety considerations.
We believe that any restrictions relating to the fire sprinkler system were not sufficiently researched or clarified, especially now that we’ve looked into it ourselves.
These are arguments that you would take to NCAT, if it came to that.
We sure feel extremely unpopular just because we challenged their stance, though it was necessary.
If the committee and strata manager won’t sit down and mediate, then as suggested before, you could commence proceedings under Section 232 (which requires that you, at least, attend a mediation). If the committee refuses, that will go against them at NCAT.
Your strongest grounds would be if you were trying to standardise the storage sytems (Box Things, etc). You are on shakier ground if you want the committee to approve storage that suits you and, at this stage, only you.
Maybe you could send out an email questionnaire to all owners asking if they would like the committee to come up with a standardised storage system and suggesting some alternatives.
Never forget that the owners. as a group, control the committe and the committee controls the strata manager, not the other way round. You need to keep the majority of your neighbours onside and then the committee and its quirks and biases will be a lot less relevant.