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Topic
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Owners living in a Strata complex are required to follow certain procedures & processes. When dealing with the Strata Management Co there is usually one point of contact within the Strata Plan, in this case the Secretary of the Owners Corporation (OC) to act on behalf of all owners & to contact the Strata Management Co with their concerns.
One owner refuses to follow this procedure & regularly contacts the Strata management Co. direct thereby incurring additional costs such as $500.00 worth of telephone calls in a one month period. To the point where the Strata Manager rang the Secretary to see if the Secretary could convince this owner to follow procedure as the Strata Manager could not. The Secretary contacted the errant owner without success as she was of the opinion she could & would contact the Strata Manager as often as she deemed necessary & would not communicate with the Secretary or any other member of the Executive Committee.
The Strata Plan is also in the midst of dealing with warranty work issues & a Rectification Order has been issued by Fair Trading. This one owner is of the opinion that the Strata Plan should pay for their own repairs & not go through Fair Trading & the NCAT. Some houses will cost $40,000.00 to repair.
The Building Inspector from Fair Trading also requested that there be one point of contact for him to liaise regarding this matter; the Secretary. This owner has also refused to follow this procedure & has repeatedly contacted the Fair Trading Building Inspector direct as she was of the opinion that he had not found sufficient defects in her property.
All other owners were happy with the information contained in the Rectification Order. The initial inspection of 14 houses by the Fair Trading Building Inspector took 5 & 1/4 hours. This owners house took 1 & 1/4 hours of this time. As a result the Fair Trading Inspector again attended the complex and inspected her property again. Only one minor amendment was made to the Rectification Order.
The Owners Corporation has recently been advised by the Strata Manager that this owner has dealt directly with the Strata Plans Insurance Co & the Insurance Co. has repaired this owners house without the involvement of the Strata Management Co & the Owners Corporation. These repairs took place prior to the Building Inspection by Fair Trading & cost $3,200.00.
The Owners Corporation has been advised that these moneys will be covered by Insurance & that no excess will be charged to the Owners Corporation. How can this occur ? The builder has agreed to repair some of the defects noted in the Rectification Order but not all.
One of the houses concerned is the owner who goes off on her own with no regard for the other owners in the Strata Plan. The behaviour of this owner is jeopardizing the repairs to the other properties. Is there any way the Owners Corporation can stop this owner from behaving in this manner.
If this owner can opt out of the process is the Owners Corporation entitled to remove her from the process such as ostracizing her & refusing to liaise with her as she refuses to liaise with the Owners Corporation.
can the Strata Management Co refuse to deal with her direct as she is constantly incurring additional costs to the Strata Plan by refusing to follow procedures agreed to by all other owners.
Your advice on this matter would be most appreciated.
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Kerri – apart from putting-up a Member of your Executive Committee as the Owners Corporation’s “nominated point of contact” on its Strata Management Agency Agreement and with its Insurer, which it appears has been done, your problem is a difficult one when an Owner is so determined to by-pass the “system” – and they succeed!
If as you say the Strata Manager, Insurance Company, and Fair Trading prefer to have one nominated point of contact with the Owners Corporation (O/C), then perhaps make sure that the above is formally in place, and advise your errant owner in writing that any further costs to the O/C that arise consequent to their personal representations to any of the above will be at their cost.
Maybe advise the Strata Manager also, as that may additionally dissuade them from engaging in cost-creating activities with the rogue – just in case she won’t pay-up.
By the way, passing-on those costs as I’ve suggested is a bit of a bluff, but I’ll bet that your O/C will only need to send one invoice to get it’s message across; even if she arcs-up and refuses to pay!
We have the same problem in our strata complex, except that it is a tenant, not an owner, who continually rings the Strata Manager and so increases costs for the owners. When told not to he just laughs and says he can do what he likes.
Kerri & AJP – It’s worth noting that you’re dealing with the Real Estate Industry here, and without elaborating, suffice to say that when advertisements for Strata Managers appear showing a Salary “plus Schedule Bs” there’s an undisguised inducement for the “additional service charges” within that Schedule, including for telephone calls and other communications, to be maximised; because they form part of a salary package.
Some Strata Management Agencies are now offering all-inclusive Agreements, where whilst Owners Corporations are still paying for those Schedule B charges, they’re effectively capped, thereby removing the inducement for Strata Managers and others within their Office to routinely accept phone calls and other communications from errant Owners and non levy-paying tenants, to pocket the resultant fees, and to simply pass those on to their Client; the Owners Corporation.
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