Mugged again!

Unfortunately our building suffers from a chronically self serving committee who manage to maintain their positions by dispensing favours to supporters and cultivating proxies.

However their latest shenanigans just about takes the cake- in brief:

Our building is now the subject of a fire order, after a council inspector discovered that fire rated glass sliding doors / windows had been removed from one unit without obtaining necessary council approval or even submitting a DA.

It has now transpired that 7 of the 36 units in the building have done exactly the same thing – the sliding doors and windows led to enclosed balconies, so the removal has effectively extended their living rooms. In addition committee members own 2 of the offending units and have ‘ownership’ of the other 5’s proxies.

Now the committee is claiming that since the fire order is directed to the owners corporation it is the OC’s financial responsibility to make good the privately undertaken illegal works within units.

But surely the OC cannot underwrite non-compliant structural removals or pay for the consequences of illegal works done within units? Already $15,000 has been spent on consultants in an attempt to find a ‘solution’ palatable to the 7 offending units.

The committee has also flagged an intention to submit a proposal at next month’s AGM to obtain approval for all costs associated with the repairs etc.

Any advice would be appreciated.