Fortunately since most monkeys don't own apartments (and if they did couldn't sign the nomination) not many of their uncles are getting onto strata committees.
But, there are many committee members who either do nothing to assist the running of the strata corporation or (worse still) actually cause harm to the building and owners' interests.
There's not easy answer … since it's only through education to increase owner knowledge, understanding and appreciation of what it means to be in a strata scheme that things will improve. And, since being on a committee is largely a volunteer role with very few volunteers out there, anyone who wants to be on a strata committee will usually get on.
Some interesting developments and stories around the world include –
- Florida where committee members must now be certified to have basic knowledge of thier strata corporations by doing an approved course.
- The very rare cases where committee members have been sued for negligent and poor decisions.
- Queensland where there is a code of conduct for committee members.
- Suggestions that there should be professional committee members who act like independent directors in public companies – with good knowledge of strata operations and no self interest.
- And the bizzare case in the USA where an owner's dog was actually elected chairperson of the community association through owner apathy.
So, maybe it's the fault of the system, owner apathy and committee laziness?
After all if you pay peanuts, you always get monkeys.
Francesco Andreone …