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Hi,
we have recently bought our first apartment in bellevue hill, sydney. At the auction a member of the EC who is the chairperson, secretary and treasurer of the building was there. he congratulated us and said he would help us with anything we need, we should let him know. we met with him and he advised we can remove part of a structural wall and 2 other small laundry walls no problem if we got structural engineer plans. we got a recommended structural engineer who provided a report and structural plans. in the meantime the secretary has then said no to all structural works and then yes again no problem to all structural works, reviewed plans with us. and said no problem it will all be ok and then 2 weeks later no structural work again.. he has changed strata managers just after we settled. delayed calling an EGM for different excuses over 2 months! and now they saying earliest is end of jan.
they advised us new strata manager took over over a month ago. and she told us right before christmas holiday shes only been officially taken over a week ago. the secretary has recently given permission by special resolution to a renovation to a member of EC who has made a door way in structural wall with no by law and the secretary has advised hes concerned about us having to get get council approval which will mean they will have to update their fire regulations which will cost them alot of money.
the voting system is unfair as its a building of 8. 3 live overseas and secretary gets their proxies all the time. even now with new proxy laws 3 members on EC work together and take a proxy from overseas owners.
its been a very draining and stressful process. any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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I live in Qld and have just had my renovation approved by the Body Corp committee as per the by-law instructions which also included submitting a structural engineer’s report. I also had to sign an indemnity form against damage to the building and the common property as a result of the renovation.
I would suggest that you request that the committee draw up an indemnity form that you could sign as an extra precaution. That should satisfy the Owner’s Corp. If that is refused then you could claim that the OC are being unreasonable and take this matter further through NCAT.
Unless you are changing your front door then I don’t see how an internal renovation should impact on the common property fire regulations for the building? Both are not related in my opinion… but I could be wrong.
There are a few issues here.
– are you saying that one person is the Chair, Secretary and Treasurer of the Committee? It’s not quite clear.
– in relation to the representations by the Chair and Secretary of the Committee respectively (who may be the same person), individual members of the Committee have no power or authority to approve anything. They can tell you what their view/position is, but that doesn’t have any effect as a decision of either the Committee or the OC.
– you say that the Secretary gave permission by special resolution to other renovations. As above, the Secretary can’t do that, and the Committee can’t pass a special resolution either. Do you mean that a special resolution was approved by the owners at a general meeting – as that is the only way a special resolution can be passed? From what you have said it appears that there was no GM, as there was no by-law put in place, therefore there can’t have been a special resolution.
I suggest that you do the following:
– get confirmation from the Council that no approval is required, that way you can rebut any objections along those lines.
– put your formal request in writing to the Committee with all the necessary paperwork with a timeframe, which would include holding a GM to approve a special by-law.
– note that no by-law has been put in place for the other owner’s works, and that if a by-law is required for your works, a similar by-law should be put in place for that owner. The reason for that is it protects the other owners from any liability relating to those works.
Welcome to our life ! We have been through and are still going through exactly what u are going through. The problem with the Strata System is a lack of policing the Strata Laws. Allowing bullies to flourish.The only thing u can do is go to the tribunal which is what we are doing. In reality they have decided they don’t want u in their building and they are trying to wear u down. They rarely believe anyone will go to the tribunal as it means legal costs and most people shy away from this . Fair trading is unable to help u as they have no power over the Strata committee. You can go to the tribunal without a lawyer but your Owners corperation/Strata committee will use your levies to fight u with a lawyer at the tribunal. I wish I could offer u something more hopeful but this system is not structured to protect individual lot owners and the new laws have not gone far enough to stop proxy farming. We have endured a lot of harassment but will not be bullied out of our home. Wishing u luck and sending support from someone who totally gets it. Hang in there.
Aqua – To help clarify your situation can you please provide us with the actual wording of the Renovation By-law for your building? NB:The By-law should set out all the requirements for obtaining approval for a renovation.
Please also tell us the anticipated date of your next AGM? If you do not know then contact your Strata Manager and ask.
As scotlandx has already stated in Comment 3, there are several issues involved in your current problem. If you are going to the Tribunal then you may as well have the Adjudicator sort them all out together.
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Approval of the OC is required under section 110 of the Act.
https://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/ssma2015242/s110.html
If any of the work affects common property then you need to comply with section 111.
https://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/ssma2015242/s111.html
A by-law is required because the owner must be responsible for the works, and any successors in title. Correspondence doesn’t do that.
Hi
we have had similar experience in self managed strata block . Owners corp has no understanding of strata law and didn’t know what a by law was. They kept changing their minds re what they approved so we took it to NCAT… Last week orders were made that they need to consent to the works, however they have not accepted the orders and are refusing to meet or pass special resolution!! So it looks like we will need to escalate again. We are confident we will get it done but I’ll never buy into strata again if I have a choice!!
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