CSI: Corrupt Strata Investigations

O, what a tangled web we weave …  sometimes someone pulls a loose thread in the fabric of their strata life and, just like in a TV detective show, everything unravels to reveal something very wrong.

A few weeks ago a reader called ilovebbq contacted the Flat Chat Forum. He  suspected his building’s strata manager was getting work done for the owner of the commercial area of the building at the Owners Corporation’s expense.

Further investigation revealed that this strata manager had never been properly appointed. So the owners found a new strata manager but the old one refused to hand over the books and records and continued to act as if they were still in position, including sending out levy notices.

The Forum advised getting professional legal advice, taking the strata manager to Fair Trading and the Consumer Trader and Tenancy Tribunal and at least asking to see the contract by which they thought they had been appointed.

This is where the plot thickens.  The contract, requiring the signature of two members of the Executive Committee, had been signed twice by the owner of the commercial lot.  And instead of the standard three months notice of termination, it gives the strata manager three years notice.

Meanwhile, the owner of the commercial lots has applied to their local council to covert his shops to short-term accommodation.  The other owners are against this but the application has been supported by the rogue strata manager, claiming he is their appointed representative.

The Owners can’t even pay for legal help as the strata manager and commercial owner won’t allow them to hold the general meeting required to authorise that.

In any other line of business, what the strata manager and commercial lot owners are doing would be called fraud and subject to police investigation.

And clearly there is a desperate need for legislation to allow strata owners to challenge corrupt, unfair and unconscionable contracts, without having to become forensic strata detectives.

The whole sorry (and complicated) saga can be found HERE.