- This topic has 14 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 4 months ago by .
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Can anyone help with advice. We have had leaks into our unit for over 10 years, 9 ceiling replacements, loss of furniture, carpet, mould issues, the damage has been incredible. At time 2 garbage bins in the hallway collecting from the ceiling. My husband is a paraplegic having surgery for cancer. We took our case to NCAT 2 years ago. The committee were given orders which they did not comply with – extension of time – did not comply with, broke 2 bylaws. Did not apply for appropriate waterproofing plans. They are now digging up areas they did not properly fix in the first place. We have leaks in the building everywhere. We have just had our application for a Strata Manager dismissed. We are left in limbo. We cannot sell or rent the unit, we are elderly with medical issues. Our solicitor has thrown his hands in the air. Your advice would REALLY be appreciated. Thank you.
- This topic was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by .
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@larchibold
I am very sorry to hear of your situation.
Two things come to mind:
(1) You mention the “Strata Manager”. What exactly did you apply for and to whom?
(2) As for the lethargy, ill will or sheer incompetence of the Owners’ Corporation (“OC”), may I suggest you get say 2 quotes for the complete repair of what needs to be done (to get your place to the good and dry state it was before the damage) and then apply to NCAT.
Before applying to NCAT, contact them on
Give them the file number of the case that you or your solicitor took to NCAT and mention the OC has ignored the orders.
Ask NCAT if you can “renew the proceedings” – if so, this requires you fill in a simple 3 page form. A “renewal” is often used if one side fails to abide by orders and the other side, you, want to enforce the orders.
If a renewal, for whatever reason is not possible, NCAT may ask you to apply with a brand new application.
But DO NOT APPLY with the intention of getting yet another order for the OC to handle the repairs. Instead ask NCAT to order the OC pay for the repairs YOU will organise, given history shows the OC has failed to do its duty under s. 106 of the Strata Schemes Management Act and failed to abide by NCAT’s orders.
To prove the sum you want NCAT to instruct the OC to pay you (to then pay the contractor you find), attach the quote to the NCAT application. Providing NCAT with at least 2 quotes will be even better.
Dear larchibald
This is exactly what has happened to my husband and I. We are almost eight years with leaks and mould and it has destroyed us emotionally, physically and financially. We are still leaking with mould and buckets filling up after four sets of orders from the tribunal. Millions of dollars have been wasted on lawyers and experts and works that have now failed. Works supervised by committee members who had no qualifications. We too are worse off than when we started even though we won every case.
We now have a compulsory manager and there is a dim light at the end of the long long tunnel. The Tribunal did not grant us the compulsory manager, we had tried three times to get one. The tribunal ignored our discomfort, our safety, the devaluing of our home and the fact that our building became a war zone, that the costs were escalating and that the OC had shown no real motivation to maintain the building to proper standards. We ended up with a bit of luck and a long story achieving our compulsory manager through a settlement agreement after our building went broke.
There are so many suffering individual owners out there. As individuals we have no political power and no one really cares. We do need to join together to lobby the government, OCN and the tribunal for changes in the protection of the individual owner in Strata. This of course won’t happen in my life time, there are no ‘votes’ in the individual owner. Of course you have your hands full with ill health and we are broken as well so where can one find the strength to keep on fighting? There needs to be an ‘advocate’ appointed for individuals in Strata, as strata is a vote system and fraud on the minority is rife when whole buildings gang up against spending money to maintain CP. The Commissioner has had his hands full with developers and only speaks to strata committees so you can’t get help from him either. I tried.
In this City of Sydney it is a disgrace innocent people paying taxes and levies and stamp duty live in unhealthy conditions for decades.
I truly believe that if people are experiencing leaks the works should be done immediately to Australian standards, not almost a decade later. Currently after orders are handed down partial lip service works are done by OC’s in order to appease the tribunal and win cases and avoid a compulsory manager. The lawyers know all the tricks to sway members.
If there is an argument over who is responsible for works, this argument can take place any way, but the works get done first, independently scoped and costed. When the OC is refusing to do works it is obvious they will not do the works properly and they have no fear of consequence or incentive to do so. There should be no “stays ” when it comes to water ingress and safety. Time extensions and stays are handed out like lollies at a pantomime in the tribunal. If an OC refuses to do the works then they should also lose the right to scope the works and choose trades as they generally do not act in good faith. Committees have too much power when it comes to major defects.
Owners should be able to withhold their levies for the areas of their homes which are deemed wet.
We are about to start the works for third time, all of the previous shoddy works have to be removed and there is 1.4 millions dollars of works to be redone apart from the wasted money on legals and previous works.
The tribunal does not self investigate, even if you want to make a complaint that complaint goes directly to the member who is hearing your case not an independent party.
You are welcome to contact us privately if you want to know how we managed to finally get a compulsory manager.
I wish you strength and resolution.
Whoopi
- This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by .
Sorry for the late reply:
1. Fair Trading is right. A committee member cannot charge for answering an owner’s question or ignore communication of an urgent nature that impacts on the building, which is the committee’s responsibility.
What committee members often do is ignore emails or phone calls. Or take their time replying. No laws against that I understand.
2. In my experience, often – but not always – Strata Managers’ behaviour is dictated by committees. The committee may tell an agent to ignore or not act on emails. Thie may be because the committee is spiteful or just don’t want to do any work. Managers want to keep their jobs so will do as their paymaster tells them.
That said, your job is to show that you notified the OC via the manager about something and nothing was done. I suggest you copy any email you send to a manager also to a committee member, that way both are informed and if nothing is done, your hand is strengthened when it comes to filing a complaint with NCAT. After all, both the manager and the committee knew of a problem and chose to ignore it making them very possibly liable for any consequential damage or loss you suffer as a result from their lethargy.
3. When you get the quotes and apply to NCAT ensure your “renewal of proceedings” paperwork, which of course will cost an application fee, is limited to WORK ORDERS. You cannot renew proceedings for a non WORK ORDER matter. Get quotes also for ALL the additional damage you have seen eg outside the front door, ceiling carpet etc
4. In your renewal paperwork you must mention how the water problem which has been ignored by the OC and manager has got worse.
Describe the new situation: the stains, smell and leaks near your front door; the inattention to the concrete slab that necessitated carpet replacement and expert advice that was ignored.
The above indicate continued dereliction of duty by the committee to repair and maintain common property under s. 106 of the SSMA.Throw in that you believe the committee is acting in bad faith and hence breaching s. 260, SSMA
http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/ssma2015242/s260.html
As these issues are intimately related to the NCAT order ignored by the OC, I think it reasonable that you add them to the renewal application where you’ll seek orders for the repair and replacement of whatever is damaged.
If the issues were unrelated, you may be asked by NCAT to go first to Strata Mediation where you and the OC are to discuss the issues with a view to resolving them, under the guidance of an impartial mediator.
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Here is some information on Strata Mediation:
Go to the Fair Trading website and lodge online a request for Strata Mediation on this issue. The cost to you is zero but often NCAT will require a customer to have attempted to mediate on the matter before going to NCAT.
Go to
At the above link scroll to MEDIATION
and look for COMPLETE THE APPLICATION
click on that link, fill in the form and Fair Trading will contact you in about 10 days (who knows, maybe sooner)
At Mediation the other side may not attend mediation or they may not agree to anything or they may agree to fixing the problems and then not follow through. These are all possibilities. Once mediation is over (if they don’t attend then it’s over as soon as it starts), the Mediator will email you a letter confirming what took place at mediation. That letter is all you need to go to NCAT.
For more information on this matter call Fair Trading on 13 32 20
I hope the above helps. Appologies for not replying sooner.
Glad to help.
(1) On the matter of insurance, decide what period of time you believe the strata manager and/or committee members were engaged in shenanigans that cost the owners including you money or resulted in reduced insurance cover.
Let’s say the period is 01JAN2019 until 01JUL2022.
You could write to the strata manager – under s. 182 of the SSMA – to provide you with copies of ALL correspondence (by email or otherwise) that was exchanged in the period 01JAN2019 to 01JUL2022 between and amongst the following parties:
(a) The strata manager: (b) committee members; (c) prior insurers the strata used; (d) current insurers the strata uses; and (e) any intermediary such as a broker or a representative used by those listed in (a) through (d) inclusive.
The agent must give you access to the records whether by physical inspection by you in his office or he may choose to make the records available online or via email. He may charge the $34 fee for the first 30 mins of physical inspection (and more if your inspection is longer), but often managers prefer to email owners at no fee or no more than $34 just not to have owners in their offices. Especially when simple matters like copies of emails are sought.
The history of email communications should make you better informed about what’s going on.
(2) Given the inattention by the OC and from your position, a less than satisfactory response from NCAT, you should consider asking NCAT to appoint a Compulsory Stata Managing agent under s. 237 of the SSMA.
This means NCAT turfs out the current strata manager and committee members from their roles and appoints another strata manager to manage the property with no involvement from any owner including those committee members now sacked. The upside is that a new broom is installed at the scheme which often attends to all the outstanding issues, in your case there are plenty to keep the new manager busy. The downside is that the new manager will not need to consult anyone about who he hires, how much the work will cost the OC and what work he will arrange to repair and maintain. Oh and the costs to manage the scheme will rise, possibly by a lot. But then again, matters will be repaired and properly maintained, so surely better than what you’re enduring currently.
To get such an order in your favour you must prove in your application that:
- the management of the strata scheme by the strata manager and committee members is not functioning satisfactorily (things are not being done or being done to the detriment of the owners); or
- the management of the strata scheme by the strata manager and committee members have ignored an order(s) imposed by NCAT; or
- the OC has failed to attend to a duty it is obliged to respond to under the SSMA eg repair and maintain common property (s. 106).
You should summarise your opinion is that the OC are dysfunctional which is proven by their continued dereliction of duty to repair and maintain common property as well as its history of ignoring an NCAT order.
Emphasise just how many YEARS you’ve been waiting for the manager and committee to attend to fixing serious matters which are only getting worse and worse given the inactivity of the strata manager and committee members.
You could appeal the decision. There are plenty of examples of people taking lost cases to the NCAT appeals board and winning on less solid ground than yours. You use the word “solicitor”. Are you employing an experienced strata lawyer? If not, that might be your next port of call.
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.
Good day larchibold,
I am truly sorry for the saga that envelopes you.
Three things come to my mind:
- Jimmy is spot on when he mentions this forum is not a source of legal advice. It is a collection of views from strata property owners and residents, made in good faith but not by qualified strata practitioners;
- Jimmy is 100% correct in stating your need for a lawyer experienced in strata matters. I can tell you that wise advice. Many years ago I engaged what I call a “general purpose” solicitor with zilch specialisation in strata matters – someone I have used for many years for other transactions – and the other side’s solicitor rode rings around him. He was uninformed about strata law and in the fullness of time that absence of experience in that field was clear to all;
- An appeal is good advice. Given the long standing nature of your matter, the case should be run by a lawyer; and
- If as you claim the OC/BC is planning to take you to court for the costs they incurred when winning the case, at first blush it seems to me that they do not have an experienced strata lawyer working for them either because under the Strata Act – section 104 – they can ask NCAT for the costs to be paid by you. There is no need for them to go to the expense and effort of seeking the costs in a court. In fact I don’t know if a court can even rule on a NCAT matter that was not put to NCAT.
NCAT orders are to do something. The orders don’t specify the quality of repairs.
I guess you need to start again.
As for costs, your solicitor should be asking for costs orders from the OC as it appears you were the successful party. It’s probably too late now, but keep it in mind the next time.
- This reply was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by .
Larchbold
- You mention you want to appeal. Will you do that at NCAT or the local court?
- If you go to the local court and win, you are likely to have your legal costs paid for by the other side, the OC.
- You mention your lawyer, who I understand you want to represent you. Is he a strata expert?
- If not, have you considered a strata expert (which you could Google)? Or perhaps contact a strata expert that sponsors this website?
- I suggest you summarise your case in no more than a page: list the history of events and what you want done, contact 3 lawyers and obtain quotes.
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