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There have been a few instances in our building where large repairs/improvements have been made to the units owned by strata committee members. All requests (email, on a Zoom meeting and on the phone) made to the committee members and strata manager for copies of quotes, invoices and records of approval have been dismissed or ignored. What steps can the owners take to ensure transparency and sharing of information?
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Yes it’s ridiculous. An industry wide problem is property managers are not required to be accredited/qualified and many owners assume they are, and that they have all owner’s best interests in mind – which is actually what the legislation (in Qld, at least) required of them, and is usually repeated in their contract. The big issue is they latch like a poddy calf to a bottle sticking like glue to the committee who ultimately proposes they are hired or fired whenever their next contract is due for renewal at the next owner’s AGM. Know your legislation and push back up to the point of judication is my general approach and recommendation. You don’t need be friends and if you were they surely would have already acted friendly in the first instance to avert the problem at hand. Good luck.
If you take Netrsata in NSW as an example, they tell owners that standard practice (theirs) is for them to make all the decisions under delegated powers and just report back to the owners a few times a year. Naive owners go along with this, sign all the contracts put in front of them and think this is hunky-dory becasue they don’t know any different. Then someone with a bit of knowledge comes along and … boom! Questions are asked, excuses are made and “facts” become malleable. In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king … but the king always has a target on his back.
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.
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