@Austman said:Puddn said
Without consultation with the wider community, this committee is acting without ‘authority’ – in my view.
Most strata committees are given the authority to act on behalf of the Owners Corporation except on specific matters that require a special resolution or a unanimous vote.
Is expressing an opinion “acting without authority”?
Does this prevent individual owners from expressing their opinions?
Does it prevent a majority of owners from saying “hang on – we are rescinding that decision to offer that opinion”?
The answer to all of those is No. The way strata committees work is to allow the community to get on with running itself without having to stop and hold a general meeting every time there is a decision to be made.
There are checks and balances there to allow the strata committee to make decisions that need to be made with the final say always resting with the owners if they feel the committee has made the wrong choice.
To limit the committee to only decisions that are specified in the law is to create massive loopholes through which the unscrupulous can exploit their neighbours.
Should strata committees even discuss short-term letting? It doesn’t say in the Act that they can or should. How about installing solar energy? Can’t see that anywhere in the Act.
OK, that’s all stuff inside the building so it would come under management. But let’s say the council is about to change a bus route and move it away from the building to somewhere less convenient? Is the strata committee expected to stay silent?
Or how about if a developer wants to put a sign on a crane that will shine into apartments all night. If I were an investor and my tenants had decided it was easier to move out than complain, and my strata committee hadn’t bothered to raise an objection, and my new tenants complain about the light from the crane … I would be mightily annoyed at my committee for doing nothing.
The crane sign is a real and recent example in my building. The committee objected to a proposal to install a brightly lit sign on a crane just across the street, they also encouraged owners to write with their own objections. Council refused permission for the lit sign.
Was the committee exceeding its authority by doing what it did? Or would it have been derelict in its duty by doing nothing?
Finally, regarding previous comments about strata committees using their power to support developers, the problem there is a stacked, pro-developer committee and that can be solved relatively easily with a little organisation and a lot of determination.
But if owners can’t be bothered to protect their own interests, that’s no reason for denying that option to everyone else.
A correctly run committee with proper agendas and minutes is totally accountable to the building’s owners. If the committee is not properly run, then that’s a whole other issue.
Expressing an opinion in good faith on behalf of the majority of residents – not just owners – is not exceeding the committee’s authority … it’s recognising that committees have responsibilities that are neither defined nor restricted by the Act.