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Having listed to the “other Minns” podcast I was again reminded that there is very little done to prepare anyone who as an individual who wants to buy and reside in a Strata to become informed and aware of how a Strata Plan works.
As a Strata Owner and resident in a small Strata Plan of 17 Lots for more than 10 years and an active committee member in a second term as Chairperson I continue to be astounded and frustrated by the demonstrated lack of understanding by our owners/residents of all things to do with Strata.
This lack of understanding is demonstrated by the owners/residents in almost every aspect and activity related to living in our strata since becoming an owner/resident some ten years ago when the Strata Plan was about 5 years old.
Whether it be Common Property gardens, gardening, lighting, parking, garbage, pets, fumes/smoking, pest control you name it eveyone has their opinion and reasons why by-laws etc don’t or should not apply to them as they are precios individuals.
I was fortunate to have some knowledge of what Strata was about having had a family member involved in real estate most of his adult life and was an active member of the local real estate institute.
Following our purchase of our villa we became socially involved with our neighbours and then I was asked to consider becoming a committee member.
I have a curious nature so I set about understanding more about Strata Law and Strata Living referring in the first instance to the NSW Fair Trading web site where there is anabundance of information.
As I felt I could have a positive input I agreed to nominate for the Strata Committee and subsequently agreed to be nominated and elected to Chairperson of our Strata Committee.
From day one it was obvious to me that I was surrrounded by owner/residents who did not have a clue nor wanted to know more than the basics of how a strata plan is run and governed!
As a result of that most agrivation in smaller owner occupied Strata residences come from this lack of informed purchasing and in our case demonstrated lack of interest in becoming informed!
Our Plan has some rental residents and again they are ill informed so they think they can do what ever they like.
There is an obligation in most standard rental/lease agreement that the Real Estate Agent provides a copy of the by-laws to the renter.
I know as I have asked and not one Real Estate Agent has complied with this requirement in our Plan.
So I understand the need for the focus of the Strata Commissioner to be where it is currently there is still a portion of Strata that would benifit from some improvements also and reduce the waste of resources dealing with issues that should not arise if the entry into Strata ownnership was improved.
I am also concerned that the rights of tenants are also gradually being strenghtened to the extent that owners (particularly owner/resdents) will end up with little say in what they control in there Strata.
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One of my neighbours is from an overseas English speaking country. She said that she had no idea about strata until after she purchased her home.
Just before we became self managed, I spent a lot of time reading the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, the Fair Trading web site, various strata legal web sites and flatchat, of course.
My beef is with unscrupulous strata managers. They want to keep us in the dark. Our owners corp was paying around $6,700 in fees and getting poor service. The management fees were supplemented by other fees such as insurance valuation, “postage, copying, calls”, tax return, capital works review, updating by-laws. We had overpriced electricity and trades people.
I noticed that we paid over $100 per year for a tax return. I called the ATO and they confirmed it was not necessary. We have no taxable income. I organised an EGM to instruct them to stop doing tax returns and to let us approve every repair first. They resigned.
Anyone who is not interested in how their strata is run, is paying a “lazy tax”.
The first year of a new scheme is critical in this regard. This is when you see exactly how a strata manager operates. But then you need a couple of nitpickers on the committee to pull all the extraneous expenses apart. After that, you have a three-year cycle in which to decide if you are getting value for money.
The Strata Community Association (SCA), basically the strata managers’ trade union, is getting way too big for its boots, with strata managers now telling committees to ditch the Owners Corporation Network (OCN), because the SCA can provide owners training for free. I wonder if that training includes a section on how to spot a strata management rort.
Any scheme that dumps independent advice from other experienced owners in favour of free, pro-strata manager “training” deserves the dubious service they are almost certain to get.
Oh, and for the record, I am not and never have been a member of the OCN.
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.
From day one it was obvious to me that I was surrounded by owner/residents who did not have a clue nor wanted to know more than the basics of how a strata plan is run and governed!
That is good because where i come from it is a case of owner/residents who do not have a clue nor want to know.
People in general face two problems with strata; they don’t have the time to learn it and for many they don’t have the skill set to understand it.
The overseeing authority, currently branded NCAT, have the delusional view:
“The legislation has always envisaged that generally, strata schemes would be managed by ordinary lot owners for their own benefit.”
J Bordon: Nulama Village P/L v Owners Strata Plan 61788 (Strata & Community Schemes) [2006] NSWCTTT 550 (25 September 2006)Ordinary people with no idea running the show is what the plan was and it has been well executed because that is where we often are at with strata living.
Ordinary people with no idea running the show is what the plan was and it has been well executed because that is where we often are at with strata living.
Your dripping sarcasm is clogging up my computer.
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.
The overseeing authority, currently branded NCAT, have the delusional view:
“The legislation has always envisaged that generally, strata schemes would be managed by ordinary lot owners for their own benefit.”
J Bordon: Nulama Village P/L v Owners Strata Plan 61788 (Strata & Community Schemes) [2006] NSWCTTT 550 (25 September 2006)
This is only possible for a few strata plans. A small strata plan of less than ten villas / townhouses with lawn, a driveway and letterboxes, could be managed by ordinary lot owners. An apartment block with hundreds of homes, elevators, gym, building supervisor, electronic key access etc might want more than this.
In Victoria, larger strata schemes (over 50 units?) must have strata managers. A similar regulation is in the pipeline for NSW blocks of over 100 units.
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.
A similar regulation is in the pipeline for NSW blocks of over 100 units.
I would expect you would have some appreciation of just how few large SPs do not already have a manager already.
There is a paper somewhere by Fair Trading from many years ago that says there are very few, it might even have used the term ‘handful’. I have it somewhere in the files.
It seems a very poor prioritization of issues and resources if the pipeline has this in it, but it does create the appearance of doing something.
So many bigger fish to fry.Correction, in Victoria only schemes of over 100 units must appoint a strata managing agent. The state’s other recent tweaks to strata law include a couple of innovations that other states would do well to copy, including a limit of three years for all contracts. Contrary to what the money-grubbing management rights lobby in Queensland might tell you, the whole system doesn’t fall apart due to the absence of 25-year contracts.
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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