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Topic
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I am a long serving Secretary of a small block of 14 units in NSW.
We have an elderly Owner who was removed from the committee a number of years ago for antisocial behaviour.
Since that time, this owner has taken to paying for his own Strata searches whereby he obtains the contact details of the tradesmen that we have engaged. He then contacts the tradesmen claiming to be on the committee and requests to be sent copies of their invoices to his private email address.
These invoices sometimes contain information about works carried out for other Owners unit repairs (water damage, fixed locks) and so on that have nothing to do with his holding.
The Owner has then contacted the tradesmen and harassed them claiming that he believes that have charged too much for the work and in one case, called one of them 30 times in one day until the tradie blocked the Owners calls. This good tradesman now refuses to do work for us.
The Owner has also distributed copies of the invoices obtained to other Owners claiming that the committee is wasting money or worse – claiming that we are using the funds of the owners corporation to carry out non-essential repairs and preferentially treating other owners.
He also uses the information from the searches to write to the Strata Manager (copying in other Owners) demanding that an owner repays the cost of repairs when he believes they were not required.
There seems to be no mechanism in the Act to protect the confidentiality of the Other Owners?
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Yes the SSMA does not help you.
BUT this owner is creating a fraud by claiming to be something he is not – a committee member.
I would engage a lawyer to send a cease and desist letter (impersonating a committee member). See what happens then perhaps take it to the police.
Alternatively you could approach NCAT for an order stopping the owner pretending to be a committee member.
I don’t think impersonating a committee member is a crime, or even an offence under strata law, unless he is doing it for financial gain.
However, there could be a strong argument that this is a form of harassment against all the residents of the building and you might consider seeking an Apprehended Personal Violence Order.
At the very least, it would be worth talking to your local police about them having a word, and telling the ex-committee member to pull his head in.
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.
I tend to agree with JT but not so sure the court would be willing to grant an apvo for complaining.
It seems odd that this owner has to resort to doing strata searches to find out what repairs are being done though. Repairs done on lots are not private or confidential as far as I’m aware.
Colonel Schultz said:
It seems odd that this owner has to resort to doing strata searches to find out what repairs are being done though.
You still have to see the correspondence and for that you have to pay a fee to view the records held by the strata manager.
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.
So no meetings to appove repairs are needed by the committee?
In any case I think making lot owners have to pay to see what their funds are being spent on is rediculious and insulting.
Older topic, but loved your intro to this thread JT, https://www.flatchat.com.au/forum-nutter-abuse/ esp. ‘…there is no strata law that covers “Obsessive Nutter Syndrome”.’ Oh I wish.
May not be a crime to impersonate a committee member, but apparently being Criminally Annoying is. A man has been charged with the criminal offence of “annoying a person”. annoying-tasmanian-man-faces-court
But back to this serious issue. We have exactly the same, but not elderly and it sounds like, more accordingly aggressive. ‘Antisocial’ hardly comes close.
Got the PVO – issued by police, so we didn’t have to get it ourselves. It includes stalking, harassment, intimidation etc – the sort of thing that this type of interference is deemed to be in law. If it’s broken, arrest.
On that basis our strata managers can deny access, being that to supply the info would be counter to the PVO.
So you were right JT, it is a strong argument that this is a form of harassment and the law agrees.
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