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As a committee member (we have no official roles on our committee) I am trying to determine whether those owners that have elected to receive emails rather than letters, are in fact receiving them.
I have been receiving paper for years, even though I have elected to receive them electronically 5 years ago. Every time I ask I have some vague response. Of course, our printing charges from the strata manager are obscene.
I have sent a request and received a reply quoting privacy. Is there any way around this? I understand I can physically inspect the records, however the email addresses will not be included.
The other alternative provided was a formal executive committee resolution to be passed allowing an individual committee member access – but still this would not include email address would it?
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I think not electing office bearers is a tactic some (bad) SMs use as only a Secretary can obtain the strata role, and you need the strata role to hold an EGM in order to sack said SM!
Anyway, we just held an EC meeting, elected office bearers then the newly elected Secretary forwarded the minutes to the strata manager requesting the strata role. Many emails later we finally got our strata role, and no, we didn’t get email addresses.
@confused1 said:
I think not electing office bearers is a tactic some (bad) SMs use as only a Secretary can obtain the strata role, and you need the strata role to hold an EGM in order to sack said SM!Two points: It’s not up to the strata manager to elect the committee and office-bearers – only the owners make that decision.
Also, any owner can ask to see the strata roll and strata records, not just the secretary. The problem with email addresses is that there is no provision under the Act to record and therefore provide email addresses so most strata managers err on the side of caution, re privacy, and don’t provide them.
If you wanted to contact your owners, you could obtain a photocopy of their addresses and then send them letters asking them to provide email addresses for future communications regarding the strata scheme. You could even set up a website for that purpose. It’s much easier than you might think.
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
@bambam said:
As a committee member (we have no official roles on our committee) I am trying to determine whether those owners that have elected to receive emails rather than letters, are in fact receiving them.By not electing office-bearers, you are in breach of the Act (section 18, see below). You leave yourselves wide open for a disgruntled owner to get orders from NCAT making them the chair (Section 19)
18 Executive committee to appoint chairperson, secretary and treasurer
(1) The members of an executive committee must, at the first meeting of the executive committee after they assume office as members, appoint a chairperson, secretary and treasurer of the executive committee.
(2) The chairperson, secretary and treasurer of the executive committee are also, respectively, the chairperson, secretary and treasurer of the owners corporation.
(3) One person may be appointed to more than one office under this section.
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
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