Decisions with no agendas, meetings, minutes or information.

Democracy, with a capital D once again.

Setting aside changes to common property requiring a special resolution – which is a valid consideration – go back to the strata manager in writing and ask for the following:

– notice of EC meeting setting out the proposed resolutions to proceed with/effect those changes, and any supporting documentation, including quotes, experts’ reports etc;

– date of the meeting at which the EC approved those changes;

– minutes of the EC meeting at which those changes were approved;

– date on which the relevant EC minutes were either posted on the strata noticeboard or provided to the other owners.

Note to the strata manager that you are sure he/she is aware that any decisions of the EC require approval of the EC members at a properly convened meeting, and in the absence of such approval, the strata manager is not authorised to take any action, and in fact may be liable in the absence of requisite authority.

Then note that as these (the venting of the dryers at least) are changes to the common property, you believe that the Act requires a special resolution to approve such changes to common property, and therefore any purported decision by the EC in that regard is outside the ambit of its powers.

Then conclude by telling the strata manager that you require a response with all relevant documents within 7 days, and that you expect that no works will be undertaken until a satisfactory response has been provided.  If any works are commenced in the interim, you will lodge an application with NCAT.

1. Any owner is entitled to attend a meeting – of course it is a bit difficult if it is being held by paper resolution.

2. I am not sure what time the manager put the notice up, but 72 hours notice has to be given, so the decision can’t be made until 72 hours after the notice was given – that means if notice was given at 2pm Friday, the work couldn’t possibly start until after 2pm on Monday.

3. Refer below from Schedule 3 of the Act re how to stop an EC making a decision – you need at least three other owners (note this is calculated by unit entitlement) to agree with your concerns, and give notice in writing to the Secretary and Strata Manager, that you oppose it and it cannot proceed.

11 Decisions of executive committee

(2) A decision of an executive committee has no force or effect if, before that decision is made, notice in writing is given to the secretary of the executive committee by one or more owners, the sum of whose unit entitlements exceeds one-third of the aggregate unit entitlement, that the making of the decision is opposed by those owners.

@Costa said:
Surely something can be done about that, but what? It seems strata managers and executive committees can manipulate things dishonestly at will with no consequences. 

At the risk of stating the obvious, the simplest way to remedy this is to have a clear-out of your executive committee and take back control of your building. Admittedly, you will need a 75 percent vote to dismiss the entire EC (or any individual member) before your next AGM but it’s amazing how activated owners can suddenly become when they discover that their money is being wasted on individuals’ pet projects.

Your other option would be to go to NCAT and ask for orders declaring the decision to go ahead with the work invalid (so that those who approved it would have to pay) but I think that may be a long shot.

Or you could go for the appointment of a strata manager but I suspect that the issues in your building are not serious enough to get that over the line and, in any case, that often backfires when the statutory manager starts doing everything by the book.

How about writing to all owners telling them what is going on and asking why your scheme has a secretary who never communicates with anyone (when that is basically their only function).

Put pressure on your other EC members to remove the secretary from that role (which only requires a majority vote at the EC) and generally make life uncomfortable for all those who clearly prefer to do nothing.  Make your EC accountable by writing to individual members on behalf of the other owners.

In effect, what you want to do is set up an Opposition or “EC in Exile”, if you like, so that by the time the next AGM rolls around, the owners have a clear alternative.

A word of caution, though.  However hard it is, you must do your utmost to avoid making this personal.  Complain about the office, not the office-bearer, the systems and not the people who run them and the committee, not the committee members.

The easiest way for rusted-on committee members to keep their jobs is to characterise you as an individual troublemaker and dismiss your complaints as the unfounded rantings of a lone voice with a personal grudge.

The more people you can get onside, the better.  And the less you alarm your other owners in the way you go about things, the more effective your campaign will be.

Costa – YES to are entitled to inspect the records of your Owners Corporation under the provisions of Sect 108 of the NSW Strata Schemes Management Act (1996), and as you’ll see there’s a prescribed fee – currently $30 for the first hour and an additional $15 for each half-hour or part thereof of after that.

Clause 3(g) allows you to inspect and if necessary copy “any other record or document in the custody or under the control of the owners corporation”, so that should cover you, but given your circumstances I’d advise you to ensure that the follow all the procedures such as making an up-front payment with your written application to cover say the first hour, that you concurrently provide the Strata Manager with the detail of precisely what it is that you want to inspect, and that you make them aware that you’re prepared to pay for printing / photocopying / downloads to a USB stick etc (take one with you).