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Hi,
I was directed to post my query here from another forum. Basically we have a strata committee member who is throwing his weight around and making what are, in my opinion, unreasonable demands of us, and I’m looking to find out what avenues I have to address his behaviour. For reference we’re renting and in NSW. I’ve copied my full post below.
So not sure if this forum can help me, but I’m struggling to find any information elsewhere. If anyone knows a better place to find advice I’m happy to hear it.
My fiancee and I are tenants living in a strata apartment. Just before Christmas two notices were put up on the building door, one saying we would have to vacate the carport space we have on January 3rd in order for it to be pressure cleaned and another saying that at some undetermined time after January 3rd we would be required to leave our apartment door open all day in order for it to be painted.
To start with, on the 3rd, although we were told the carport would have to be vacated after 8am, one of the strata committee came to ring our buzzer literally half a dozen times at about 7:20, insisting my fiancee move the car immediately. I was at work, and she was still in bed, as we had been informed that the car wouldn’t need to be moved until 8. After she came out to move it, work didn’t even start until 8:30. I’m mainly including that for context about the committee member – it’s annoying but not a big deal.
Yesterday night, however, at about 9pm the guy from the unit above us came to leave a doorstop with us and tell us we would need to leave the door open today. I told him we would not be leaving the apartment open when the apartment was not attended and he kind of shrugged and left. This morning on my way out to work I told the painters, who were already there, that I would be away, however my fiancee had an appointment this morning but would be back in the afternoon. I asked if they could paint our door once she was back, and they were fine with that.
At about 9am I got a call on my mobile at work from the strata committee guy (no idea how he even got my number? Does my landlord have to provide that to strata?), who asked why I hadn’t left the door open. I explained that I wasn’t exactly going to leave my apartment open and unattended. He responded by saying “everyone else in the building has done it”, and I told him again that as our apartment is full of our computers, TV etc I’m not going to leave it open and unattended. He then called me a dickhead and hung up.
About half an hour later I got a message from my fiancee, who was getting ready to leave for her appointment, saying that the painter had come and knocked on the door and said she had to leave it open. Apparently he was really sheepish about it, so it sounds like committee guy put him up to it. Given that I’m not comfortable with leaving everything open and unattended, I had to make a hasty explanation to my manager, drop everything and dash home from work (including paying for an Uber, since taking public transport wouldn’t have got me home before my fiancee had to leave). I’m now sitting at home when I should be at work.
Whilst I do now get to watch the remainder of the cricket, which is nice, I have been forced to drop everything and run home, using one of my sick leave days and having to shell out for an Uber, to cover an issue that didn’t even need to occur, since the painters were initially fine with waiting until the afternoon to paint our door. And it’s not like I could have planned to take the day off (not that that’s a reasonable thing to expect of us anyway), since we were only told when this would be taking place at 9 last night.
What I’m wondering is first, is there any way we can seek recompense at all, ideally having this guy removed from the strata committee? And second, who can I make a complaint to about this guy’s behaviour? From what I could find online, NCAT seems to be the first point of call. I’ve been there before with a previous landlord, and to be honest I’m not sure if it’s the right venue, since all I really want is for this guy to back off and maybe give me an apology. The other option that occurs to me is to call the cops to report him for harassment, but I’m not sure if this is enough to merit that.
Does anybody here have any idea what my options are? Or another forum that might be able to help? I’ve tried tenancy advocacy already, but couldn’t get through on their phone lines. Thanks!
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