@kiwipaul said:
The BC and EC do have a duty to enforce the bylaws. Here is a quote from the NSW Strata website.
Owners corporations also have the following powers and obligations:
To issue a notice on a person to comply with a by-law, when the owners corporation or its executive committee passes a resolution that there has been a contravention of the by-law in question.
I hate to contradict you but … um .. you’re wrong. The EC may well be obliged to enforce the by-laws “when the owners corporation or its executive committee passes a resolution that there has been a contravention of the by-law in question.”
But the key point is that there has to be a resolution for that to take effect and ECs don’t have to pass a resolution, discuss an issue or even acknowledge that there has been a complaint. An autocratic chairperson or secretary can decide that something isn’t worth their time and it doesn’t make the agenda (therefore, no resolution).
A typical situation where this might apply is where most of the EC members enjoy using visitor parking for their own purposes. When a disgruntled owner complains, he or she is asking turkeys to vote for Christmas and it simply doesn’t get discussed.
There’s a difference between enforcing by-laws – which OCs and ECs are NOT obliged to do – and carrying out the decisions made by the EC (which they are). But you’re right, even that isn’t always done because there are no penalties for not doing so.
By the way, this is in stark contrast to Victoria where ECs have to at least give a reason in writing as to why they have decided not to take action.