Hey Flame Trees,
I was in the same situation as you, the SC were overseen by a bully of a strata mgr who had a financial interests in the building and with his connected co owner and employee would ride rough shod over any others at meetings. I felt helpless as I was the only person who questioned decisions. At our recent AGM there was an awakening, 2 other owners appeared that we have never seen or met before. Unfortunately, their premier attendance was because of a major issue affecting their lots.
Nevertheless, we were able to turn the tide by demonstrating just how lax and unprofessional they had been, expecting no one to understand figures and projections, we had them scrambling to get copies of their own figures, which the principal arrogantly did not bring to the AGM. Owners that had never spoken in past AGM’s added their voices to the cause. It was priceless the sense of being vindicated, I wish this for you Flame trees!
You need a battleplan, as it often feels like a battle. Firstly, gather evidence of possible breaches of duties by Strata Mgr or SC, quote and state SSMA 2015 sections and clauses like 106 requiring common property ( your sewer ) to be fixed or liability for damage will be on them, Shum v. SP30621 to name a case. Ask for the Strata roll, you can get all the contact details for all owners of the building here. It is illegal for them to refuse you this, you can convey your concerns to other owners. Sometimes it is a long wait and when you achieve the numbers, you will realise it’s always been about the numbers in support. Also to save time on decisions about repairs being passed between mgr and committee Propose a spend amount for items that don’t require a meeting, Maybe $6k – $10K.
Alternatively just wait as Strata / management if left unchallenged for many years develop a sense of hubris and may do things which breach the Act. Wait and collect all these breaches then at the right moment ” on your command unleash hell !
Good luck