Re: Weeding out owner who won’t work

The comments made were in reference to private property that the owner has an obligation to maintain. Most often, this will be things like (as in this case) keeping your gardens tidy or even the state and colour of the blinds on your windows.

Basically, anything that might impact on the rest of the block can be controlled by the Owners Corp, including what you have on your balcony, if there is a by-law that states that. And, as I said, those by-laws about the state of the garden are pretty standard for townhouse complexes.

So this ‘free’ gardening need not have been an act of charity but work done to stop the whole complex looking like a disaster zone. And, as I said before, if the Owners Corp (as represented by the Strata Manager) has told a resident to do work or be in breach of a by-law, and they have refused to do so, then the Owners Corp can pay for the work to be done and then charge the owner for the work, if they so choose.

Also, you said this:

The act states that the BC manager and the EC have to act on behalf of all owners and giving preferential treatment to certain owners is misuse of funds and at worst corruption.

I can’t find any reference to any of this in the NSW strata Act (where what you call the BC Manager is referred to as a Strata Managing Agent). Also, it would be impossible to compel the strata manager or Owners Corp to act on behalf of ALL owners.  What happens if, for instance, two or more owners were in dispute with each other?

Corrupt or fraudulent behaviour are covered by other aspects of the law with, as far as I can see, the only exception being clauses in the NSW strata Act that prevent strata managers, building managers and caretakers using proxy votes to award themselves increased payments, other financial benefits or extensions of their contracts.