I am sorry for your woes.
I would have to give this matter a very good deal of thought to decide what I, a layman, would do in your stead. But as an owner who has been involved in a few strata schemes including a decade stint on the strata committee of a large scheme, I offer my insights for you to add to your decision making process.
You raise many issues: did the strata manager and/or lawyer mislead you? Was the committee or is the committee incompetent? Is it out of its depth? Is it breaching its legal requirement to maintain common property (s.106 SSM Act)? You should argue that its behaviour demonstrates it is at the very least, dysfunctional.
Recently I complained to Fair Trading about a strata manager misleading me and soon enough he quit. I suppose he didn’t like to be the focus of an investigation. NSW FT did not (and does not) reveal what actions if any it took against the strata mgr nor did it (or does it) list managers who where the focus of an investigation and then quit their management roles subsequent to an investigation or if they did not quit, were turfed out by the OC. Not a transparent system is it?
Separate to complaining about the strata mgr, I took the OC to NCAT seeking amongst other things, a compulsory manager.
Both of the above actions took MONTHS of research, documentation and paperwork. And cost me money in filing fees, printing, travel and obtaining advice.
So what did I learn that could assist you? Broadly speaking there are four tasks for you to perform:
FOCUS ON STRATA MGR – You could complain to about the strata manager’s behaviour ie referring the owners to a lawyer, which didn’t help you and in fact cost you and other owners. For this go to the NSW Fair Trading website and lodge an online complaint about a “property professional” in this case a strata mgr. NSW FT will reach out to you to confirm the facts as you present them and then to the strata mgr for comment on your allegations. Before reaching out to the strata mgr, NSW FT will decide if the strata mgr’s actions are worthy of investigation and only then will seek answers to questions you submit in your complaint which should focus on how the strata mgr did not abide by the requirements of the Property and Stock Agents Act and Property and Stock Agents Regulation. Requirements include his duties, such as being honest;
FOCUS ON OC’s (previous) LAWYER – You mention the lawyer did a 180 degree change on the likelihood of success. I am not legally trained but to me one question that arises is whether the lawyer misrepresented the chance of success to owners? Have a look at a NSW gov’t website where complaints can be lodged against lawyers https://www.olsc.nsw.gov.au/Pages/lsc_complaint/olsc_making_complaint.aspx
There may be other websites where you can complain against such lawyers, as a layman, I am not sure.
FOCUS (also) ON OC – If you seek anything for the OC to do (eg building works) or seek a change in how it operates eg wanting the OC to surrender its existing management agent, before scooting to NCAT you must attempt mediation. You can apply for this also on the NSW FT website. As others have often written on this website, it doesn’t matter a jot if you and the OC actually mediate (as they may choose not to attend or set conditions for their attendance). All NCAT wants to hear is that a date for mediation was set and hence attempted.
At NCAT you’ll most likely – as I was going to – face the OC’s lawyer who will run rings around lay folk. Having the facts in your favour is in my experience insufficient to win. Also it’s reasonable to assume the OC will either use its insurance cover to pay for a lawyer or will seek owners agree to dipping into the strata scheme’s bank a/c to hire a lawyer to defend your allegations. Either way, the OC will no doubt have more resources available to it than you would. Oh, and say you do hire a lawyer costing you one arm and two legs. Say you win. There is absolutely no guaranty that NCAT will order that your costs in full or in part will be paid for by the losing side ie the OC; and
CONSIDER HIRING A LAWYER – either to represent you at NCAT alone, or you and others (once you convince others to join you). Alternatively, at a general meeting of the owners (ie outside the NCAT process), you could try to persuade the OC to hire a lawyer to undo the wrongs of the past. Either way, only approach a lawyer specialising in strata law.