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  • #65469
    TrulEConcerned
    Flatchatter

      I am keen to know if anyone has experience living in (or being the landlord of) an apartment where compulsory strata management was applied for at NCAT, granted and implemented.

      My specific interest is whether NCAT’s appointed compulsory strata manager spent owners’ funds like a drunken sailor or not.

      I ask because I am reliably informed that not only will owners (as well as former committee members) not be able to influence an appointed compulsory strata manager’s decisions, including spending, this I knew, but that there is no legal avenue at all for any owner to seek redress against say (objectively speaking) out of control spending by the appointed manager. This is something I did not know.

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    • #65475
      kaindub
      Flatchatter

        As I understand it, the appointment of a compulsory strata manager is at the petition of an owner. Remember there are no such thing as strata cops.

        The petitioning owner nominates the strata manager to be appointed. The other owners will usually oppose the appointment of a compulsory strata manager, and would not come prepared with an alternate.

        So the disaffected owner gets to choose the compulsory strata manager. If it was me, I’d make sure thst manager was responsible.

        Having said thst, I spoke to a strata manager about compulsory appointment. He said thst firstly, their fees for such an appointment were several times the normal fee due to the amount of work and responsibilities.

        Secondly, he says that they do things “ by the book”. That means that any maintenance is done.
        Anecdotally I have heard that since the strata manager is now god, he looks to get the maintenance jobs done, but not necessarily at the lowest cost ie the work goes to their roster of tradies.

        I don’t believe that a compulsory strata manager would line their pockets, but since there is no committee to question them, the owners don’t get the cheapest prices.

        #65480
        Jimmy-T
        Keymaster

          As I understand it, the appointment of a compulsory strata manager is at the petition of an owner.

          Mostly true, but NCAT also has the capacity to appoint a strata manager if it is asked to adjudicate on an issue which reveals the strata scheme is chronically dysfunctional, and where making a specific ruling probably isn’t going to solve the big picture issues.

           

          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.
          #65482
          TrulEConcerned
          Flatchatter
          Chat-starter

            @Kaindub wrote

            The other owners will usually oppose the appointment of a compulsory strata manager, and would not come prepared with an alternate.

            This sounds true, but in my case the Sec hired the current agent and seems close to him, so I expect the Sec to pony up to NCAT a quote from the current agent, not to mention NCAT may have its own list of possible agents.

            So the disaffected owner gets to choose the compulsory strata manager. If it was me, I’d make sure thst manager was responsible.

            I have a quote from a previous agent, who I found to be, like other agents, in the pocket of the strata committee. So was he “responsible”? I guess to the strata committee he was.

            I have not met a “responsible” (to all owners) agent. While I have not had problems with many agents, because I don’t deal with them, I know that in every strata I am involved in someone has an issues, at times a major issue with the strata agent and I cannot tell if the respective lot owner complaint against the agent is justified, so cannot identify a “responsible” agent.

            Having said that, I spoke to a strata manager about compulsory appointment. He said that firstly, their fees for such an appointment were several times the normal fee due to the amount of work and responsibilities.

            The high fee you refer to may be when all charges are considered. The “sticker” or “base” price for the appointment that I am considering is a couple of hundred dollars above the “sticker” or “base” price of the current management agreement. I told the possible compulsory agent of the current fees we are paying. I have not waded into the 30 pages of T&Cs of the possible compulsory agent’s paperwork to estimate the “all up” cost. I can guess that every agent whose name comes forward as willing to take this job on will have similar detailed T&Cs, skewed, I’d wager to the agent’s favour.

            You raise the issue of “the amount of work and responsibilities”. In big stratas I agree with you, but in this case of this small strata, there  are occasional R&M issues but nothing that requires “much work” or keeping an eagle eye out by anyone.

            he looks to get the maintenance jobs done, but not necessarily at the lowest cost ie the work goes to their roster of tradies.

            I agree. Sounds likely.

            I don’t believe that a compulsory strata manager would line their pockets, but since there is no committee to question them, the owners don’t get the cheapest prices.

            Again I agree.

            Thanks.

            • This reply was modified 2 years ago by .
            #65483
            TrulEConcerned
            Flatchatter
            Chat-starter

              @Jimmy

              I agree. If NCAT is shown a pattern of behaviour that can best be described as a “dysfunction” and is chronic, then nothing short of wholesale sacking of the current arrangements (ie SC and current strata agent) and appointing a compulsory strata to address the dysfunction is the fairest response by NCAT to the problems.

              #65487
              Jimmy-T
              Keymaster

                Just to clarify, the Tribunal’s power to do this of its own bat is there, right at the top of section 237 (my emphasis).

                237   Orders for appointment of strata managing agent

                (1) Order appointing or requiring the appointment of strata managing agent to exercise functions of owners corporation

                The Tribunal may, on its own motion or on application, make an order appointing a person as a strata managing agent or requiring an owners corporation to appoint a person as a strata managing agent—

                (a)  to exercise all the functions of an owners corporation, or

                (b)  to exercise specified functions of an owners corporation, or

                (c)  to exercise all the functions other than specified functions of an owners corporation.

                And then there are the reasons …

                (3) Circumstances in which order may be made

                The Tribunal may make an order only if satisfied that—

                (a)  the management of a strata scheme the subject of an application for an order under this Act or an appeal to the Tribunal is not functioning or is not functioning satisfactorily, or

                (b)  an owners corporation has failed to comply with a requirement imposed on the owners corporation by an order made under this Act, or

                (c)  an owners corporation has failed to perform one or more of its duties, or

                (d)  an owners corporation owes a judgment debt.

                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.
                • This reply was modified 2 years ago by .
                #65495
                TrulEConcerned
                Flatchatter
                Chat-starter

                  @Jimmy

                  Thanks for the very good points.

                  Assembling the papers to seek compulsory strata management makes me wonder what possesses some folk to run a scheme so opaquely, so willy-nilly,  that an application like mine is the only avenue left for those whose snout isn’t in the trough and actually want the OC do do what the SSMA demands they do.

                  After all, if I heard correctly that a compulsory manager when conforming to the SSMA can spend without constraint on a range of matters including, upkeep of the scheme (doing so with no tenders, no economising etc), then (a) more matters will I bet be repaired and maintained than the current committee bothers to address and (b) the scheme’s expenses will invariably rise (who knows by how much) and in turn levies perhaps may also increase.

                  A compulsory agent who will usher in higher expenses and possibly higher levies. Both of these are direct results of the committee’s stubborn refusal to be transparent in their operations. The committee must think they can defeat such an application to NCAT because, after all, the result of such an appointment will prove to cost all owners including the current committee a very pretty penny indeed.

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