Reply To: Incompetent manager & bullying owner blocking repairs

Thank you very much Julie McLean for your very comprehensive reply! It has been most helpful.

1.  The loss adjustor from the insurance company made the determination that external water ingress was the cause after the 4th plumber’s report (all four plumbers’ investigation found no leaks from internal sources). It instructed the OC to carry out maintenance. The strata manager was informed of this but there was no response. Follow-ups were made over several months, still no response.
2. The OC have also been informed. No response.
3. A complaint has been lodged with the franchisor a week ago. They have acknowledged receipt of complaint but have not responded yet to the issues raised.
4. A copy of the complaint have been emailed to all owners on the same day – no response to date.
5. We will lodge a complaint with Consumers Affairs under the Owners Corporation Act 2006. We need to find some emails to cross-check and confirm some dates mentioned in the complaint before sending.
6. In the meantime, due to the 12 month delay in getting a case heard at VCAT, we have also filled in a VCAT form but have not sent it for the same reason. We are also putting together the relevant supporting documents (mostly emails) to prepare for the hearing if it couldn’t be resolved at mediation.
7. We will also contact strata lawyers for quotes.
8. We are not aware of any internal conflict resolution procedures. It would be difficult to have any conflict resolution when the manager and owners corporation refuse to engage at all
9. At the AGM in Sept 2023, there was exactly 50% of owners present, consisting of one owner and two proxies. The manager was the proxy for the owner who blocked the repairs because of his objection that it came under the OC policy rather than a contents policy.

We will provide updates.

Once again thank you very much Julie, and also Jimmy, for your help. Much appreciated!