Re: How does an O/C deal with squatters when the Lot Owner won’t?

Here’s the latest, and hopefully almost the end of this saga:

• The Owners Corporation issued the “squatters’ with a Notice to Comply, and copied both our Proprietor/Landlord and her Property Managers.

• I got the job to continue to apply pressure to our Proprietor/Landlord, and no doubt aided by the fact that her tenant was six (6) weeks in arrears with his rent payments, she finally agreed to instruct her Property Managers to issue him with a Termination Notice.

• Almost two (2) weeks later, during which time the “squatters” continued to occupy the Unit and create merry-hell, the Property Managers finally got around to issuing the tenant with the Notice, which I now know was sent by post to avoid confronting the “squatters”.

• Problem was, despite the fact that there were ample grounds for the Property Managers to terminate the (continuing) Lease with 14 days notice, they took the easy way out on two counts – firstly by posting the Notice in order to avoid confronting the “squatters”, and secondly by avoiding the possible consequences of a Termination Notice by instead issuing a Notice to End the (continuing) Lease upon the expiry of the prescribed 90 days.

• Fortunately, a few days later I bumped into the tenant whilst he was reading the Notice that he had just removed from his mail box, and I was able to convince him to himself end the Lease in the prescribed 21 days; after all he wasn’t paying rent and wasn’t residing in the Unit.

• Albeit  12 days late, the “squatters” and their rubbish finally departed.

• Our Proprietor/Landlord inspected her Unit shortly thereafter, and wouldn’t you know that she’s already contacted me about repairs to that Unit, including to water leaks from pipes within a common wall that have, over a very long time, caused damage to all the kitchen cupboards and to the back of a built-in wardrobe.

• The Executive Committee (E/C) has advised our Proprietor/Landlord in writing which of the repairs on her extensive list are her responsibility and which may be the responsibility of the Owners Corporation’s (O/C) once she reimburses its costs to repair the damage that her “squatters” caused to Common Property (intercom etc) in accordance with the chain-of-responsibility outlined in our Special By-Law.

• Our Proprietor/Landlord has now undertaken in writing to pay the O/C’s invoice provided the amount is shown as a separate line item in equal parts on the next two (2) Levy Contribution Notices.

• The E/C agreed to that as a compromise, and we’re currently considering whether the O/C should meet the costs of repairs to the leaking pipes in circumstances where IF the Property Managers had regularly conducted inspections of the Rental Unit those could have been easily detected and reported to it very much earlier, and where there would have been little or no consequent damage 

• According to our Proprietor/Landlord she has no records of inspections ever being undertaken, and she’s currently whinging to her Property Managers about that.

• What our Proprietor/Landlord’s not saying is that she didn’t give a toss about the lack of inspections or the disruptions to our residents caused by her “squatters” so long as the rent rolled-in, and that’s why the E/C is currently considering whether the O/C should meet the costs of exposing and repairing those leaking pipes.

The joys of strata living!!!!