Strata Committee – changing common property

Hi , I am a lot owner of  a unit in a Scheme of 20-plus units in NSW

In our strata plan the Executive Committee ( aka: strata committee)  has not held a properly convened meeting for over 5 years. No agendas or Minutes . Just an AGM once /year.

But recently  some issues have arisen : 1)Tiling and 2) parking spots , both installed on common property.

1) Tiling: Lot owners received  our first ever Minutes in  5 years on March 2019  that documented that the committee had agreed to an estimate quote of  “Tiling” of each level. The Minutes reported that the exec committee had rejected a display of tiles and went and bought their own Tiles from at well known hardware  store. The Minutes were sent 11 days after the meeting.

The 10 year Capital Works plan designates that the carpet on each floor was to be replaced in 2021 for estimated cost of $10,000.  NOT TILES in 2019 ?  I and other lot owners have never heard anything about tiles with no mention at AGM 2018. I just viewed our recent Strata Financial interim report on a Strata information portal and  the committee has been spent $68,000 on capital works in 4 months? Lot owners have never been informed on what this has been  spent on ?

I visited the property and noted the acoustics and echoing of noise has increased significantly since Tiles were installed. The workmanship is poor. I am told by an owner that live in residents are very unhappy.

Also another owner has told me that the  Chairperson has informed live in owners that they are responsible for painting their own common property floor. On the Chairpersons  floor (which is also happens to be mine) the colours have turned dark to white and my brown door has also been painted white. I was not informed about this change ? But other levels colours remain unchanged.

Unfortunately the tiles are very different from the dark carpet and the whole colour scheme will need to be changed on every floor but committee says owners will now have to do that themselves.

2) Parking Spots :  The second recent issue is that the same committee members have also installed parking spots on common property previously designated ” no parking” . One under the residents clothes lines. The committee  has the  keys to locked bollards  and allows parking onsite on common property at committees discretion .Parking spots are now numbered with committee members lot numbers.

So what do you advise a lot owner to do about a committee making their own decisions.  Unfortunately the AGM is not scheduled until October 2019.

This is all very frustrating and confusing for Lot owners who have had NO correspondence. I have written to Strata Manager and Strata Committee for explanation about above  two issues however to date I haven’t received acknowledgement or  response from either party.

Does anyone have any advice about an Executive committee that seems out of control? What should lot owners do?