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Hey all, my neighbor’s unimpressed by the SC deciding to replace the building’s swimming pool with a more modern one. The SC will take the matter to a general meeting in due to course.
She asked the chairman a few questions when she got wind of the SC’s plans and was bullied into dropping the matter. The bullying was done by email. The msg she rcvd was (1) she’s unlikely to receive further replies to her questions; (2) the OC may be unavailable to attend mediation, if she takes the matter there and (3) OC’s costs preparing for and attending mediation and the tribunal, if the matter escalates, will be billed to her.
It seems like someone doesn’t want others to get in the way of their plans.
Are such threats and crass behavior by a chairman or in fact anyone in authority acceptable and if not, what can my neighbor do about it?
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OC’s costs preparing for and attending mediation and the tribunal, if the matter escalates, will be billed to her.
The OC can’t just award themselves tribunal costs like this. In fact, if it goes to a tribunal and the OC loses, all other owners will be liable for the costs except the objecting owner.
Perhaps this owner could write to the chair and ask them why they are misrepresenting the facts and strata law in this way, and suggest the building might be better with someone else in charge who actually listens and doesn’t try to mislead owners with BS interpretations of the law.
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.
Tell your neighbour to keep that strata committee email and store back ups on a cloud (e.g. dropbox, google drive), USB stick and paper. If she ends up applying to NCAT for an order about this, this email should be part of the supporting documentation.
On the matter of keeping correspondence
I know many people just use their mobile devices for reading and sending emails. It tends to create a lazy approach to handling emails.
From many years of working in the engineering and project management fields, I know the value of an email, especially if there is a dispute. if one has the facts in an email, ites better than someones memory or opinion.
I happen to use a desktop computer (how ancient) so manipulating emails is a lot easier than a handheld device. It also means that my emails are stored on a local storage so I am not limited as to how much I can store if I were using the cloud. (I also make regular backups)
I have separate folders for different topics and file EVERY email I receive or send in the correct folder.
This practice has saved my behind a number of times.
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