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A few members in our strata committee have been holding the key positions for the third term in a row now. Me and another EC member wanted to hold two of the positions for a change,but they weren’t happy with it.The SM is newly appointed(6months) and has changed the old style of voting the EC and positions at the AGM, to the secret ballot instead. How do I know who was voted when theres no transparency? The same people keep voting each other.From the word go,the SM seems to be against any by law implementations,even though that’s what he sold vociferously in his sales pitch. Our strata plan clearly has by laws in place,against hanging of laundry on balcony,residents parking in visitors. The earlier SM was keen in upkeep of by laws,but the new chap says that the majority of committee doesnt want notices sent to the residents violating by laws. This is what he says! I believe they are not keen to do so as theyre friendly with these residents,and they wont have a chat either about by laws.
Me and one of the other member(when we held positions) had kept the block looking very neat,but now its looking very shabby. Its clear that the SM is not interested and even though he keeps saying that theres no will from the committee,the committee members have never affirmed the same in writing,they chose to not respond. Residents sub letting is another issue as those folks are using the visitors spots to park,and leave the security doors open as all of them don’t have keys. That’s a huge security risk.The SM casually wrote back on this issue saying-”In regards to overcrowding, I do not believe there is such a stipulation in your local council.” I didn’t know what to make of that?
With the previous SM,we definitely had it checked and all extra residents were allowed with the owners approval.
From a recent look at the levies,its apparent that many of these EC members(including secretary) are in arrears,some over 60 days. The SM has chosen to ignore that as well. I’m really at my wits end,and don’t know how to better the situation? What can be done? Isnt there some way to make them implement the by laws which are there in our strata plan? Being in majority surely cant be a ticket to let by laws be flouted? I have tried calling them for talks and wrote to them as well,and that has elicited no response. Thanks in advance.
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@dingo said:
I think its best to let Beth99 decide for herself which road she takes dont you think?I think offering Beth99 the information required to pursue a course of action does exactly that.
What you did was to point her to an extreme case that implied that she could expect years of personal abuse and massive financial risk by pursuing her rights.
Now, I’m going to shut this discussion down because you’ve had your say and that’s fine, you are entitled to your opinion.
But if you think we should be warning everyone who wants to sort out relatively minor problems that they could be headed for disaster, I think you might be spending your time on the wrong website.
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.
@Beth99 said:
It’s like we need to pick our battles and I am going to focus on the fact that some are being non financial and holding a position.You certainly do have to pick your battles but the question of owners being non-financial (NF) when they are on the committee is probably the hardest.
There is nothing to stop anyone from being elected to the committee when they are NF – it’s just that an NF owner can’t nominate anyone, including themselves, to be on the committee.
And even if a NF owner did make the nomination, any decisions made by the committee would stand (under section 38, below).
The best you can hope for is to point out during a meeting that committee members may not vote while they are non-financial and neither can they vote if the person who nominated them is NF at the time the meeting was called and still haven’t paid what they owe (see Schedule 2 (9)(4) below). This could also prevent a forum from being formed as a quorum is only formed when more than half of those “entitled to vote on the motion” are in attendance.
However, if you want to go down the road of who is validly elected and who isn’t, the first thing to do is to ask the strata manager to show you the pieces of paper on which the nominations were made (or some record of that).
What you are looking for is proposers who were standing for election themselves, an proposers who were non-financial, members who self-nominated who are listed on the strata roll as joint owners.
If you snare enough of them in your net, you can then go to Fair Trading for a mediation at which you invite them to resign and then to NCAT where you seek orders declaring the election invalid and calling for an EGM to elect a new committee – this time with all proper procedures in place.
Good luck.
Schedule 2 (9)
(4) Voting rights cannot be exercised if contributions not paidA member of the strata committee is not entitled to vote on any motion put or proposed to be put to the strata committee if the member was, or was nominated as a member by a member who was, an unfinancial owner of a lot in the strata scheme at the date notice of the meeting was given and the amounts owed by the unfinancial owner were not paid before the meeting.
38 Acts and proceedings of strata committee valid despite vacancies or defects
(1) This section applies if, when any act or proceeding of a strata committee was done, taken or commenced there was:
(a) a vacancy in the office of an officer of the owners corporation or any other member of the strata committee, or
(b) any defect in the appointment, or any disqualification, of any such officer or member.
(2) Any act or proceeding of a strata committee done in good faith is as valid as if the vacancy, defect or disqualification did not exist and the strata committee were fully and properly constituted.
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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