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Topic
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I feel our EC has no idea and is not able to resolve outstanding issues. We have water leaks through the roof since March and our lift has been noisy for some time and we don't appear to have any answers.
Also we don't receive minutes or documents associated with our EC and the strata meetings. Agendas and minutes are posted on a notice board but they tend to be generic in detail and don't provide any insight into the progress of repairs. The strata management company employed has a web site which reports nothing. When I asked if minutes could be emails the chairman said “no” as not everyone had email.
The committee are very defensive and my view is they are out of their depth and being taken for a ride by the strata management company.
As I live on the top floor and suffer each time it rains – when can I take things into my own hands and consider it an emergency – as my neighbours clearly don't care.
Frustrated!
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Dear Wet and Wild,
Have you attended meetings? My feeling is you have not. Perhaps if you have the time and inclination to do so you may have some resolution.Then again you may be in a building where no action is taken but I feel you need to act first. Executive Commitees volunteer their time. So don't be so hard on them. ECMeetings Minutes only need to be posted on board but the larger issues you are bringing up need to go to an AGM. Those minutes should be in detail and posted to you. Perhaps you should put your hand up at the next AGM for a position on the EC? If you are an owner you have a voice so use it! If the Strata Managers are not responding to your complaints you can always ask CTTT for mediation.You should already be corresponding as as an owner with defects on your own accord, the EC are not responsible for your complaints. You should download Strata Living from the Office of Fair Trading or if you have the heart, THE STRATA SCHEMES MANAGEMENT ACT.
Cheers and Good Luck.
Thanks for your comments – have only been in the unit just under a year and more than happy to attend a meeting in the future. Not much publication on the upcoming dates because no one receives documentation.
Have communicated with the EC and understand the problems have been going on for some time and are still to be resolved (years) – so suggest my concerns are valid.
Happy to be cooperative but the EC are so defensive and the responses so aggressive – its a one way street.
I ask you for your opinion – water started leaking into my unit mid March and I reported it. It took 6 weeks for a contractor to inspect the room and we are still waiting for repairs to be started. Its now 10 weeks of wet bedrooms and damage continuing. I suggested arranging emergency tarps for the roof and they refused.
So having been reasonable – when is enough enough – they clearly don't care about my situation and don't seem to have the capacity to resolve the problems in a timely manner.
Wet and Wild
considerate band fair said:
Dear Wet and Wild,
Have you attended meetings? My feeling is you have not. Perhaps if you have the time and inclination to do so you may have some resolution.Then again you may be in a building where no action is taken but I feel you need to act first. Executive Commitees volunteer their time. So don't be so hard on them. ECMeetings Minutes only need to be posted on board but the larger issues you are bringing up need to go to an AGM. Those minutes should be in detail and posted to you. Perhaps you should put your hand up at the next AGM for a position on the EC? If you are an owner you have a voice so use it! If the Strata Managers are not responding to your complaints you can always ask CTTT for mediation.You should already be corresponding as as an owner with defects on your own accord, the EC are not responsible for your complaints. You should download Strata Living from the Office of Fair Trading or if you have the heart, THE STRATA SCHEMES MANAGEMENT ACT.
Cheers and Good Luck.
I don't think it's ever too soon to let the EC and the strata managers know, politely but firmly, that you have a problem and that you are prepared to do whatever needs to be done to have this rectified.
In this instance, a call the Fair Trading (13 32 20) is definitely in order right now and I might even go so far as to organise a couple of quotes from qualified repairers.
CBF's comments about volunteers are valid but if those voluteers don't have time, aren't interested or are so defensive that they won't listen, then they shouldn't be on the committee. They are supposed to be bridges with owners, not roadblocks.
You shouldn't have to run a campaign to get on the EC at the next AGN – whenever that is – to get vital repairs done to common property that the OC is legally obliged to carry out.
I think there's a point where you have to say to the EC and the strata managers, we can do this the easy way or the hard way, but either way, you must, by law, arrange for the roof to be fixed.
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.
JimmyT said:
CBF's comments about volunteers are valid but if those voluteers don't have time, aren't interested or are so defensive that they won't listen, then they shouldn't be on the committee. They are supposed to be bridges with owners, not roadblocks.
More commonly than otherwise, members of Owners Corporations are laypeople. They, just as the very few who would be lawyers, must provide proper management of a strata scheme.” G Durie; Senior Member CTTT. Bushby v Owners Corporation SP 64939 (Strata & Community Schemes) [2009] NSWCTTT 70 (25 February 2009)
Being a volunteer is not an excuse anymore. Senior employees at CTTT have an expectation of volunteers; the same expectation they have of professionals.
It sounds like a small SP so it is possible to have an EC meeting in less than a week. Consider talking to some people on the EC immediately and let them know you are prepared to put the matter before CTTT if the OC does not give you some sort of acceptable timetable for the required work.
If the EC do not want to be reasonable about the matter then
perhaps consideration should be given to s170 of the Act – seek an interim order and quote the Seiwa case. Apply to have the OC ordered to take “immediate” action.Seiwa Pty Ltd v Owners Strata Plan 35042 [2006] NSWSC 1157 (6 November 2006)
If you do want to apply for an immediate order you will also need to apply for mediation at the same time and you will also need to submit a substantive application (application for an Adjudicators Order) at the same time. It will cost $72 x 3 if you want to press the matter.
There is nothing pro-active about not fixing a leaking (common property) roof and if the OCs' apathy is leading to continuing damage and/or interference with use of lot then perhaps it is time to give the OC some hurry up.
Sometimes an owner has to be firm and if that means going outside the OC to get a solution to a problem then that is what the Act provides for.
It would also be worthwhile to seek a quote and put a motion on the next AGM agenda to appoint a new manager- just to keep the current manager from getting too complacent.
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