A transparent scheme would openly discuss with and disclose to all owners these changes well before the meeting. Surely its behaviour demonstrates bad faith by the strata committee.
Does it? I subscribe to the view that you should never ascribe to malice anything that can just as easily be explained by stupidity
Otherwise your questions are pretty granular and are therefore less likely to be addressed by elements of the Act
(1) Must a OC or SC inform owners before a meeting of the reasoning and justification behind revising the contract?
This is effectively a new contract (regardless of whether it’s a revision of an old one or not). They should answer quastions at the meeting as to why they have decided to go down this road.
(2) Can the strata manager take instructions (to have a general meeting) from a committee member who has sold out of the scheme? If so, what sections of the Act can I rely on?
This is such a specific and illogical occurrence that it would never have been envisaged in the writing of the Act, so the answers are “no” and “nowhere”.
(3) Must a strata manager or SC inform the owners in a timely manner if any a member of the strata committee has sold his lot or resigned from the Strata Committee? If so, what sections of the Act can I rely on?
It’s more likely to be the other way round – that the committee informs the manager and the other owners that someone is no longer a member. There is no part of the Act that includes that specific requirement (that I’m aware of).
Also, since being an owner is not a prerequisite of membership of the committee, it depends how the member was nominated. If they nominated themselves and then sell, they might fall foul of section 35 on eligibility:
35 Vacation of office of elected member of strata committee
(1) An elected member of a strata committee vacates office as a member:
(a) if the person was eligible to be a member at the time of election and the person ceases to be so eligible (other than because the person is an unfinancial owner)…
But it’s not as simple as it should be.
(4) If I wish to put my NCAT case to all owners ahead of the NCAT hearing, must the agent provide me with contact details of all owners or can she withhold these details from me?
The contact addresses and email addresses are part of the strata records which the strata manager must make available for perusal and copying on request and payment of the standard fee. This is not “provision” – just access. The standard excuses of privacy, for instance for not revealing email addresses, are total BS and just a smokescreen. If they have email addresses, even if it’s just for sending out notices, then they are part of the record and should be revealed.