- This topic has 8 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 5 days, 8 hours ago by .
-
Topic
-
I live in regional NSW & purchased a Strata Property ( having sold one previously in the city) thus I’m familiar with Strata living ; however, we are only small just 4 Units all up & we get along well – we have asked our strata managers that all emails relating to our combined properties be sent to all & responses ; Our dilemma is that they refuse & state all emails are ‘blind ‘ – I’ve never heard of such a thing & query this process as we did have a new owner purchase & insist that a car port repair be paid by Strata which we refused & yet Strata paid but didn’t notify us until we discovered it at our AGM meeting – where we we told ” it was done & dusted” – Hence our insistence that all Emails related to our 4 owners be ‘not blind ‘ Can you please advise ?
-
Replies
-
It seems your strata manager is overstepping the mark.
First check your strata management contract. They may have been delegated all the positions, from where they can do as they like.
Remind the SM that they are there to serve the owners.
I believe if they have been delegated all positions, you could arrange a general meeting and vote to rescind this part of the contract.
Ask your strata manager to give you a copy of the strata management contract if you don’t have it already. If it is a contract based on a template provided by Strata Community Association, you should look at Schedule A2 (which lists “Duties and Functions” and “Limitations on Authority”). This is where you find out how much money the strata manager is authorised to spend without telling the owners coporation (or even the strata committee).
I had the same experience with past strata managers. Expensive bills for simple jobs appeared on our quarterly cash management statement. It was too late for me to object to the expense because it was “done and dusted.”
The strata managers argue that it is a waste of time contacting the owner for every little repair. In my past management contracts, the strata manager stipulated that they can spend up to $500 without telling the strata committee. So they send a “work order” to a contractor with a “$500 limit”. Unsurprisingly, we are charged $490 or $495 for every job. Over the course of years, these repairs add up to a lot of money.
Then they had another condition which overrode the $500 limit if it was an “emergency”. The definition of “emergency” was when the owner called it an emergency. It did not have to be life threatening or leading imminent collapse of the building. It just had to be a cranky owner.
In a nutshell, the strata manager was free to spend the owners corp money without consulting the owners corp beforehand.
In a nutshell, the strata manager was free to spend the owners corp money without consulting the owners corp beforehand.
So how did you fix it?
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.
The strata manager takes instructions from the strata committee, and you did not mention if you are on that? All 4 owners should go on the strata committee, and the committee should at its first strata committee meeting pass a resolution that all spending and invoices will be provided to the committee, and the treasurer (or perhaps 2 members – come up with a formula), must approve them.
The following comes to mind:
1. Assuming the SM was delegated functions of the committee, find out who agreed to the SM handling most of not all functions of the committee;
2. Ask him, her or them if they are happy with the situation and if they are not happy ask them how they plan to fix a problem they created;
3. Often committees will prefer to delegate many functions to the SM, thinking, erroneously that any misdeed by the SM will be the responsibility of the SM. False. The buck stops with the OC;
4. Please be aware that no matter how one sided a contract with a SM is, the contractual terms, if legal, trump anything Fair Trading can do to help you; and
5. What you will probably need to do is renegotiate the contract with the SM.
Hope this helps.
What you will probably need to do is renegotiate the contract with the SM.
Good luck with that! Why would they change anything? If they haven’t been doing what the owners want, send them down the road at the first opportunity. BTW, the owners can rescind full delegation at a general meeting at probably before that if the strata manager agrees (and they will if they want to keep the contract).
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.
In a nutshell, the strata manager was free to spend the owners corp money without consulting the owners corp beforehand.
So how did you fix it?
One quarter of the owners corp called an extraordinary general meeting to vote on several changes to the strata management contract. These motions were to:
- Revoke the strata manager’s authority to spend up to $500 on anything
- Instruct the strata manager to contact the strata committee for any matter (including emergencies) before they spend money.
- Instruct the strata manager to stop submitting income tax returns on our behalf (because they were unnecessary and costing us money).
After these motions were passed, the strata manager resigned from our service. We tried to find another strata manager who would not use “emergency” as the catch-all excuse to spend money. It did not happen. Now we’re self managed.
Tina
well done to getting rid of a bad SM.
However that you could not find a strata manager amenable to your requests is surprising.
I’m involved in three strata , and have been involved in selecting SMs for all three properties.
With a little effort I found SMs who were amenable to the wishes of the owners. There must be hundreds of SMs out there, not all of them are bad apples.
BUT they don’t come as the cheapest option ever.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.