I’ve gone through something similar to the original poster, unit troubles, in the past 12 months in a small unit block in suburban Sydney.
The history of my situation arose from a small group of people organizing to artificially hold-down strata levies for 15 years, partly through farming proxies. The result was the Owners Corporation failed to adopt the capital works forecasts, failed to provide sufficient levies for capital works, and refused to carry-out repairs and maintenance.
The situation was complicated by the fact that there were only two people on the Strata Committee – me, and one other owner who was determined to obstruct repairs being carried out.
This is the sequence of events for me:
- A resolution for certain repairs was submitted at two general meetings, which resolutions were both defeated.
- I emailed the then strata manager setting out the issues and the dysfunctional nature of both the Strata Committee and the Owners Corporation, to which the strata manager could not offer a viable solution.
- I engaged a strata lawyer to advise the Owners Corporation of its obligations under the Act, requesting a general meeting to authorise repairs and to avoid the matter being determined by the Tribunal.
- The strata lawyer recommended I make application to the Tribunal at the same time, setting out the issues in dispute and providing photos.
- Fair Trading scheduled a mediation which resulted in a mediation agreement. The agreement provided for the engagement of a structural engineer, the selection of a licensed builder, and the raising of special levies to fund the remedial work.
- The then strata manager changed his mind about seeking a new strata management agreement, and the Owners Corporation engaged a new strata manager who happens to have building experience with remedial work.
- A contract was signed with a licensed builder and special levies raised.
This has been a drawn-out process, however, the remedial work should be carried out in the next few months.
The lessons from this experience are:
- Give the Owners Corporation written notice of the issues and allow the Owners Corporation the opportunity to call meetings, raise levies and carry-out the work.
- If that approach fails, make application to the Tribunal through Fair Trading, setting out the issues, including photos.
- Fair Trading is likely to be extremely helpful in the process, as they were in my case.
- An experienced and competent strata manager is a major bonus in achieving an outcome.
Good luck to the original poster.