› Flat Chat Strata Forum › By-laws and outlaws › Processes of by-law enforcement › Current Page
No apologies requires, Skeekymoo. It's hard to know where the line is so it's even harder to know if it's been crossed.
For the legal status of correspondence, I refer to our friend Murray Cameron of StratamanageIT who told me that in devising his online strata management system he received advice that there is no such thing as “private” correspondence within an Owners Corporation – ie, anything sent to or by a member of the OC and related to the OC can be viewed by any member of the OC. I'm sure Murray or one of our legal members will put me right on that if I got that wrong. However, enforcing that may not be as easy as it should be and may require action at Fair Trading and the CTTT if the EC or your strata manager are reluctant to let you see them.
On the question of the legality of warning letters, I don't think there is any legal requirement for warning letters to be sent before a Notice To Comply is issued since it is, in effect, a warning letter itself. And Notices To Comply have fairly strict rules surrounding them. Again, someone should correct me if I'm wrong, but warning letters then have no legal status but they could be used as evidence of an ongoing dispute if the matter went to an adjudication at the CTTT. Many buildings use warning letters as a way of drawing a complaint to a resident's attention in the hope of resolving the issue without having to resort to a Notice To Comply. Naturally, human nature being what it is, some EC members will also use them to harrass people they don't like.
If there is a problem or disagreement and it's not being properly handled, mediation can offer a way out for all concerned before everybody starts getting all Perry Mason on each other.