This isn’t about excessive owners corp powers – chance would be a fine thing – it’s about people not putting money aside to pay for inevitable repairs then whining when the bills come in.
Jimmy, I think you have missed a couple of points here.
1. There are Committees within strata that ARE unfairly using their proxies to push their OWN agendas & use their powers to ensure those who vote for them are favoured. Nothing can be done about this & Strata Managers support those who pay their management fees & vote to extend their management.
2. Many stratas are run by Committees who do not want Levies increased to cover obvious maintenance. This is often due to the fact many owners in the complex are in over 55 sepp5 strata & cannot afford increased Levies & the committee, who are also owners, do not want Levies increased as they are pensioners. They won’t sell, so Levies do not meet requirements or requirements of maintenance are ignored. Special Levies are never raised.
The elderly couple in the example given in this story, I fear, is wider than realised. I understand their windows were not replaced? However they paid $13k of the $18k debt. Should family have moved in to help? If they could, Yes.
But why do they have to sell & move from an area they have lived in all their lives because of strata charges? NCAT is expensive & costs may have been issued against them if they tried to be heard through that avenue. Reverse mortgages are difficult to get on an apartment & more difficult if not impossible on Sepp5 units. Maybe they were just too old & frail as the years passed to do more than they did to keep their home. I don’t know, nor do you, but there are nasty Committees out there who are feathering their own nests at the cost of others &, if you are an owner, even the owners corporation can do little if more on the owners corp are proxy friends of the committee. A million does not go far these days. Even aged care facilities can cost $750k per person. (My experience with parents to keep them in the area close to family).
Maybe you can open a forum to gauge just how many are in a similar position, I personally know those in our Sepp5 complex are bullied by a long term committee (11 years)