Executive Committee

If nothing has yet happened, the EC could change its decision in the light of being made aware of the by-laws. 

Felix – the NSW Strata Schemes Management Act (SCMA) is silent on the conducting of Executive Committee Meetings electronically, but in any case a Notice of the Meeting and an Agenda should have been provided to all Owners at least 72 hours in advance, and if the work as now completed comprised any change, alteration, or addition to the Common Property then the Executive Committee (E/C) didn’t have the authority to grant consent to those, as under Sect 65A of the SCMA the consent of the Owners Corporation (O/C) is required by way of a special resolution at a General Meeting.

Even though in the situation that you describe the Meeting of your E/C was improperly convened and its decision also improper, that decision is still regarded as being one of the O/C (albeit also improper), and so could be invalidated by an Adjudicator of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT).

Problem is the work’s already completed, so any decision now taken to invalidate the E/C’s decision and to thereby require the Common Property to be returned to its original state would depend upon what’s been done; perhaps you could elaborate. 

Felix – I never cease to amazed by circumstances such as yours; like where was your Strata Manager when the E/C was making decisions that it doesn’t have the authority to make, and for that matter how were other Owners permitted to add air-conditioners to the Common Property without an enabling Special By-Law setting-out installation procedures and making them (and not the O/C) responsible for the on-going maintenance and repair of those?

So it’s that Special By-Law (SBL) which needs to be put in place, by the inclusion of a suitable Motion on the Agenda of the next General Meeting to Register that together with Conditions that mirror the installation methods that your O/C is satisfied with such as the concealment of the pipework within the wall cavity, and to also grant retrospective approval to those air-conditioners that have already been installed on the proviso that the Owners concerned agree in writing to themselves maintain those.

With regard to the most recent air-conditioner installation, try to ascertain if the scope-of-work that the E/C improperly approved was what was then undertaken by the Lot Owner.

If your O/C’s lucky and it’s not, say with regard to the visible pipework or in fact any other discrepancy, then your O/C needs to advise that Owner in writing that a proposal to create and Register a SBL covering the proper installation of air-conditioners will be on the Agenda of the next General Meeting, and if passed, they’ll be required to at their cost make their installation complaint.

If your O/C’s unlucky, then I’m afraid that the letter (above) would still need to be issued, with an amendment to the affect that should the SBL render their installation non-complaint, then the O/C will (at its cost) make all necessary alterations to achieve that compliance.

Maybe not the answer you’re after, but I’m afraid they’re the consequences of improperly managing a Strata Plan!