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The strata committee I am a member of is reluctant to enact non compliance against another committee member who daily (and over a long time) uses the visitor parking as their personal parking space. We are in the process of addressing a critical building infrastructure issue where the ‘friendly’ involvement of this person will lead to a better outcome and as such the other committee members do not want to “inflame” the situation by taking the by law breach to the next level.
Any research I have done suggests that a committee majority is needed to take it to the strata manager to start the more formal process. Attempts at informal requests have been snubbed.
Is it true that I need a committee majority to take it to the strata manager?? Or is there another way?
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Apparently the committee member lives in the building. Visitor parking is by definition not available to this person. You’ll find that the DA or BA under which the local council approved your building requires there to be X visitor parking spaces. You’ll also find that there aren’t any more than X visitor spaces. A committee member can’t change that. The committee can’t change that. The OC can’t change it either, not even to convert it to an EV-charging space.
Have you put a notice under his windscreen? Have you mentioned it casually to him? Is it just him or are others doing so just as much? Friendly and personally is certainly your stating point. Sometimes you can present a group argument as such saying everyone now need to stop doing it for everyone’s benefit and asking him to play along to help the situation out.
a majority committee agreement is needed to escalate to the strata manager and non compliance with by-law proceedings. Do I need a majority committee agreement to address the non compliance?
Just to be clear, if you don’t have the support of the committee, you will be pursuing this in the same way as any other individual owner. However, you can do that. You can report this to the strata manager but it is then up to them if they pursue it.
Alternatively, you can seek mediation at Fair Trading pursuant to an action at NCAT – again, as an individual owner. Needless to say, this will get very messy
Personally, I would consider using a “stalking horse” strategy whereby you get another owner to make the complaint and have them throw in a threat that if the committee doesn’t do anything, the committee will also be taken to NCAT for failure to fulfil its duties (Section 232).
As chair you can then put that complaint on your agenda and force your fellow committee members to either agree or accept that your by-laws are meaningless.
And if you can’t find a suitable candidate for your stalking horse, then it may be that you are the only person who cares about this and it may be best to let it go.
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.
What a pain. Can this person not see that routine breaches by a committee member undermine the whole governance of the building.
Maybe a personal approach of the ‘Mate, you’re putting me and the committee in an impossible position by blatantly breaking the by-laws. Please knock it off.’ However he responds, you can simply point out that the building is unmanageable if you can’t rely on everyone following the rules. Either way, it should get to a point where he either acknowledges this and agrees, or he outright says ‘Stuff that, I’m on the committee so I can do what I want.’ In which case, you know where you stand with him.
Or perhaps you need a few more by-law breaches (perhaps someone else parking in visitors’ spots; piling stuff up in their car space; leaving things in the foyer or hallway…get creative). When they come before the committee you can ask ‘how can we ask one person to comply when we’re not asking everyone?’
I’d be declining to be on the committee with them at the next AGM. It’s hardball, and depends on how much others in the building value your role, but I’ve done it successfully when a serial late-payer and pain-in-the-neck owner nominated for the committee. He got smart and withdrew his nomination before it was put to a vote.
Of course, whatever you do, you can save it up until the ‘critical infrastructure’ matter is dealt with. Then just tell this person: ‘Now that we have X dealt with, stick to parking in your own spot.’
Perhaps make sure your other committee members don’t see taking action as ‘inflaming’ the situation. Their flouting of the rules has done all the inflaming. And it will be obvious to everyone in the place.
Good luck!
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