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Hi Clare,
With goodwill a simple request by an owner to a strata manager for records that are easily accessible will usually be met. Absent the goodwill though ( I know YOU have been very tactful) the Committee and the Strata Manager will rely upon the provisions of the Strata Schemes Management Act that are very clear in that the only access an owner is ENTITLED to is if they organise a search of the scheme’s records (physically or online). – many owners have learnt this the hard way having taken their case all the way to NCAT only to be told that they might have made numerous requests but these were of no consequence because they were not via formal searches by the owner.
Alas as noted above there are numerous ways that an uncooperative SC or SM can make searches difficult or documents hard to find, but that cannot be assumed.
But on a brighter note… I can think of a number of instances where owners like yourself were understandably suspicious about the owners corporation doing work in the apts of Committee members and good on you for being so alert. However in practice the apts of strata committee members may well get more attention than others simply because strata committee members may be more engaged with the care and upkeep of their apartment and understand that owners corporations have obligations around waterproofing etc. Think of the investor owner who never visits their apartment and whose managing agent doesn’t pick up on the signs of water ingress and compare this with a more focused resident strata committee member alert to any leaks in their home that the owners corporation may be responsible for. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t investigate these works, just that you may find that technically the owners corporation is responsible after all.
Hope this helps
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
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