#63223
Jimmy-T
Keymaster

    This looks very suspicious. Three committee members sell out just before  a special levy of on average $80,000 per unit is required.

    First, you need to get legal advice from a specialised strata lawyer.  Our sponsors Bannermans and Sachs Gerace  (ads on the Forum page) are both excellent.

    Then you need to find out what has triggered this requirement for an upgrade. There is no requirement to upgrade balconies to current standards unless something else in the block has needed planning approval.  (See comments below)

    Also, there must be cheaper alternatives available. Many schemes simply raise the effective height of the balcony by adding a toughened glass screen  to the top of the existing structure.  That would not require tiling or the $2 million of work.

    You need to collect enough signatures to call another meeting to discuss this (25 per cent of owners) and agree on another plan. The owners corp (all owners) can overturn its previous decisions at a subsequent general meeting.

    Notwithstanding cheaper alternatives, you should be looking at a strata loan to spread the financial pain over several years.

    Also, subject to legal advice, you probably need to start action at Fair Trading to get interim orders to stop this process before it goes too far.

    And you might want to try to find out how much the recent committee members who sold out knew about this, and whether or not they told prospective purchasers.

    There’s a lot to do but the first thing would be to contact all the other owners and tell them they are betr options available, and call a specialised strata lawyer as soon as possible.

    Alternatively, you could approach another of our sponsors, Strata Answers, who will provide expert advice (at a modest cost).

    The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
    • This reply was modified 2 years, 5 months ago by .