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Can the agent (who routinely passes emails to the SC) and SC ignore my questions?
The agent doesn’t work for you, they work for the owners corporation (of which you are part). It may be that there are instructions to or a tacit agreement with the Strata Manager not to engage directly with owners. If that’s the case and you want it changed, propose it at as a motion at your next AGM and see if it flies as Owners Corp policy. By the way, one of the reasons strata managers are discourged from dealing directly with individual owners (except, perhaps, in emergencies) is that each contact can cost money in Schedule B charges.
Can invoices be paid without having been approved by anyone?
Again this depends on the agreed relationship with the strata manager. Some schemes demand that a Strata Committee office-bearer co-signs all invoices. Some leave it up entirely to the strata manager. Again, this is a policy that can be changed by a simple motion to the next AGM.
Can invoices be so meaningless as to raise the possibility that the OC is being fleeced?
That can happen in any walk of life, can’t it? Again, it’s up to the strata committee and owners corp to determine the level of diligence required. If you want to change it, propose a standard format for all invoices that service providers have to use, and have that passed at a general meeting.
If you suspect serious fraud, that’s another matter entirely and should be pursued through Fair Trading and NCAT in the first instance, and the police therafter.