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Topic
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Email between the executive / COO.
Not an email to the strata company informing them of a decision / action.
But everything.
Is it common for such email to be requested / provided to the strata company for their records?
Can this be requested?
Interested to hear comments.
D
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Replies
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I don’t really understand your shorthand.
By “COO” do you mean Chairman (or woman)?
What does “But everything” mean?
Pleas be a bit clearer in your question and that improves our chances of giving you a clear answer.
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.
Sounds silly and I can’t see why the strata manager would want it. Our Executive Committee (EC) has quite a lot of email traffic and it would be time-consuming and quite likely error-prone for the managing agent to sift through to find what is intended as an instruction. Far better that the EC only addresses the managing agent (MA) when there has been a decision to instruct the MA to do something or there is a specific question to be asked of the MA.
I agree with Peter. Unless the managing agent merely wants to make sure they have a full record of all official correspondence for the strata schemes records, they have no right to demand correspondence that may otherwise be private or ‘commercial in confidence’. Unless WA is different from everywhere else, the strata managers are not “party” to strata scheme communications unless they are owners in the scheme.
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.
dwa said:
Can the forum think of a reason where such a record would be useful?
Let’s say a less-than-competent strata secretary is found out and replaced but takes all their copies of emails and letters of complaint, and evidence of dodgy deals with them …
Or a complaint is made against an owner who says “this is the first I’ve heard of it …”
Or an owner has asked for permission to build a small deck but ends up constructing a massive terrace with built-in hot tub …
Unless there is a paper trail, every strata dispute becomes a case of “he said, she said”. And unless you have a secure record, the paper trail is only as reliable as the people holding the files.
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.
So, after much discussion, which need not be recorded, our EC would send a copy of the EC meeting minutes to the managing agent to be recorded in the official records, including the resolution that approved the small deck, generally including the plan or sufficient description to not be confused with a massive terrace.
Ditto for the complaint against an owner: If it is serious enough, the EC would resolve to send the final version of a letter (after much discussion about what to say and early drafts which don’t need recording) and that resolution and letter would be what is sent to the managing agent, or the managing agent is asked to send the letter.
It doesn’t matter who said what in the process of coming to a decision. It is the final decision, recorded in the minutes, that matters. I still can’t see any need for a record of the chatter that precedes the decision.
I agree
There is a time for talking and a time for writing things down. But when those things are written down, it’s important that there is a reliable record of what has been decided, especially if, as some ECs do, the minutes simply say “matter resolved” or “motion passed”.
There is a reason that strata law stipulates heavy fines for strata mangers who don’t pass on the records of the scheme. You can’t move forward with confidence if you’re not sure what has happened in the past.
But, as Peter says, we don’t need every umm and ahh of the arguments preceeding the decision. And if a member feels strongly enough, they can ask if their dissent be recorded in the minutes.
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.
@JimmyT said:
…And if a member feels strongly enough, they can ask if their dissent be recorded in the minutes.Agreed. We have exactly that recently. 6 of 7 agreed on what the previous meeting had decided and on the text of a letter that resulted from the decision. One member did not approve of the letter and did not agree that it reflected what we had decided. He wanted his dissent recorded in our EC minutes and it was.
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