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Fear not. You don’t have to put up,with this.
But your SM should be more helpful. Sounds like they are one of the lesser quality SMs out there.
Firstly determine if the adjacent bathroom is an original one. If that is the case then the OC is responsible for repairing the waterproofing. The OC has an absolute responsibility to maintain the common property and can effect repairs despite the protestations of the owner.
Secondly if the bathroom has been renovated by way of new wall and floor tiles then check for a bylaw stating that responsibility for waterproofing is on the lot owner. If you find such a bylaw then ask the SM or your committee to issue a bylaw breach notice to the lot owner. He has to repair it or get a fine and can be directed by the court to effect a repair.
If a by law does not exist it is still up to the lot owner to fix the problem.
If the owner still does not want to cooperate, ask the SM or the committee to effect the repairs and to pass the cost onto the owner.
You don’t have to suffer because of the intransigence of the lot owner.
If the SM and the committee won’t help, just apply to NCAT to get an order to get the repairs done. The court can sort out whether it’s the lot owner or the OC who pays, but in any case you get your repairs
Roland
glad to see that you are trying to make a change in your block.
But in strata, often change can take a long time, if at all. Your fellow owners have elected a committee. If your block is like most others, most owners are uninterested in their block and are happy to have the SM or the committee manage the blocks affairs.
In my opinion a good course of action is to get friendly with your fellow owners. Don’t scare them with how much change you want, because that translates in their minds to higher levies. Tell them how you can add to the management of the block and your interest in being on the committee.
(it’s unlikely you will have much effect unless you are on the committee unless you want to be going to court all the time – and in that case you will just piss off all the other owners)
By getting friendly with the owners and committee members you stand a chance of being voted onto the committee. Once you are on the committee you can start to influence things like what repairs need to be done; budgeting money for future repairs and how levies are raised.
(it’s likely the block is run down because they do not have sufficient money in the capital works fund).
Be considerate of existing owners. You bought into the block knowing it was run down ( or did you buy it sight unseen). They are probably content with the look of the block. So you can’t expect others to change immediately to suit your agenda (though I agree your agenda is a good one)
Good luck
Roland
If you have purchased recently, your solicitor would have asked for a section 184 certificate. Amongst other things, the names of the members kf the strata committee and their functions will be listed.
Exercise your rights under section 181 and inspect the strata records where you can get the contact address at least for each committee member. You may be able to also get an email address dependihg on the records kept by the SM.
Also the minutes if the last AGM will record who was elected to the committee. Under sect 181 you can see the minutes.
Too many SMs claim privacy when in fact the affairs of an OC are not private. That entitles owners free access to most OC records and information.
Your chances of having a strata agent appointed are good.
its up,to the tribunal to look at the evidence and make a call.
Document all the non compliances referencing the part of the act that has been broken.
Despite three other owners opposing you, they would have little sway if your documentation is good.
Line up a strata agent who is willing to take on the job. You have some free rein here to choose an SM who will work with you rather than the other three owners.
But you are not going to make any new friends by this course of action, and the medicine may be worse than the affliction
Have you discussed with your cotenant that you want to move out?
Regardless of the circumstances you can’t just break the lease if its a fixes term lease.
If your cotenant is agreeable to taking over the whole lease, then she can pay you your share of the bond. But she may noy pay you the whole amount if she thinks the agent will not pay back the whole amount of the bond at the end of the lease.
If your cotenant is not willing to take on the whole lease, then you can notify the agent that you both want to break the lease. There is a fixed notice period. Your lease will also tell you what the break fee is. When you both move out the agent will inspect the property and return your bond, less your break fee and less anything they charge for property damage.
Alternatively you could find another tenant to replace you. Until you find a new tenant, you are liable for your share of fhe rent. You wwould then negotiate with the new tenant to pay you your share of the bond.
Its sad and uncomfortable when cotenancies go pear shaped. You both entered into a contract and are responsible for it separately and jointly.
Its going to cost you some money to get out of the lease. Just accept that fact. Act honestly and you’ll get out of it at least cost.
Dech
There is a concept in insurance called coinsurance.
Basically it says that if you take out insurance that for less than the full event insurance value, the insurance company says you are co insuring. Ie you are taking on part of the insurance risk yourself.
So lets say your OC insures your block for only 50% of its full value, believeing that the chance ofa total building loss is 50%.
Lets say that your lot burns to the ground, but no other log is affected. The insurance company will say you coinsured the event to the tune of 50%, so even though the total sum insured is greater than the loss of your jnit, wwill only pay 50% of the assesed loss.Nloss.
Now do you want only 50% of yourlot yo be rebuilt?
The point of tne valuation everh few years is to ensure that the inrured value of your building is close to uts real replacement cost. ( the insurance companies allow some lee way in the sume insured before applying the coinsured rule)
Of course it can.
How do you want to do it?
If it is just for yourself, you would need a bylaw created and then you would be required to bear the full cost of the installation.
If you want the OC to do it, this is an improvement and would require a special resolution. Just because you get a special resolution, the issue of connection cost would still need to be addressed. Owners who are happy with electricity may not be keen to have the OC pay out their money for something they may not use.
Remember also that owners would need to pay out of their own pockets internal gas piping and the cost of new appliances.
You have a bit of a battle ahead
There is no provision in the SSMA for the OC to recover money for damage to common property. There is a rule that states that owners are not to damage common property , but that applies to things like renovations rather than accidental damage.
The OC is responsible for maintaining common property. That includes wear and tear and damage over time.
So the OC is responsible to repair the damaged lift. They have no recourse to you under the SSMA to ask for any payment. The damage costs would be covered by the OC insurance. But the excess is probably more than the $500. Again the OC can’t ask you to pay the excess.
The only way the OC can recover the money from you is to start an action for willful damage ie they sue you under NOT the SSMA for willfully damaging the common property (Yes you are responsible as the owner who contracted the removalists, but you could sue the removalists as well). The difficulty is that the OC has to prove the damage was not an accident, and to prove that your removalists did it.
If the OC continues to ask for the money, go to NCAT for a decision. The OC will need to state the part of the SSMA which they are trying to recover the money under, which they will not be able to do (as no such provision exists)
Remember that any outstanding amount owed to the OC, whether real or otherwise and not paid by you makes you non financial. You cant just sit on this and hope it goes away because in the mean time you can’t get onto the SC
Hope this helps
Truleconcerns
apart from NCAT, most courts awards costs to the winner of the case.
Costs are awarded at the discretion of the court and can follow two methods.
Indemnity costs – pretty much all the money you spent to proceed your claim can be reclaimed from the looser. There are some exclusions but expect to get back 80-90% of your costs
Party to party costs. Your legal costs are assessed on the basis of what the court thinks is a fair price to pay for your legal system. The court applies a standard rate for the legal work done. Expect to get less back
However, the court can also just award a $ amount to you if the cost of pursuing your claim is out of proportion to the gal costs. This is designed to stop ltitgants using lots of expensive lawyers to wear down the opposition for a small reward.
Lawyers are like any other service one buys. The more expensive the service, the higher likelihood of a good result. Not all lawyers are equal. Just because you think you have a good winnable case does not mean the lawyer you select will get you that result. Look at your lawyers expertise and track record.
The reason I asked earlier whether you want to fight for the principle is that on your numbers, the cost of processing your action is very high in relation to the amount you are pursuing. Your lawyer should be advising you what an economical path to follow is – not just going to court.
But one in never certain when approaching a court that a) one will win and b) that costs will be awarded.
There is a long line of people who won there cases in court and yet were worse off.
Yeh
Even when you win a court case you lose.
However if you get a good lawyer, he will be able to write the threatening letters, initiate a case and then use mediation to get you a result. At mediation you won’t get everything you want, but the costs are cheaper.
If mediation does not work and you take it to court, you will get more of your costs returned if the court awards you more than you were prepared to settle for.
But at then end of the day , decide whether you want to fight for the principle ( a sure way to do your dough) , whether you can just wear the loss, or whether a mediated settlement will suit you.
( Also maybe one of the lawyers on the forum can kick in. But generally you can expect to get back about 80% of your legal costs. UNLESS your lawyer is charging to send you birthday and Christmas cards. )
Robert
Maryjane
I have experience with your situation.
1) I sold a villa last year. New owners wanted to start renos on settlement day. I raised the motion for the renos. (They told me exactly what they were doing. It was a minor renovation). Since we were self managed and I was chairman/secretary , I got a meeting notice out quickly and motion was passed.
You do need the cooperation of the SM or OC to make it happen quickly.
2) Daughter bought a villa last year. AGM was 2 Days after settlement. SM allowed motion for Reno to be put on agenda. Motion was passed, even though we already started the strip out before the meeting.
Again if you can get some cooperation from the OC or the SM they can make things happen.
None of the above contravened any Strata laws
good luck
Jimmy
I stand corrected in relation to the proxy votes
Robert
Jonh
the place to find the number of lots is the Strata plan. You should have a copy of it attached to your purchase contract. Failing that, you can get a copy of the Strata plan fromLPI for a few dollars online.
older strata often had a separate lot for the living and the garage spaces. If all the lots have one living and one garage lot, it does not affect the votes. In a show of hands vote, every owner gets either one or two votes. As long as owners are considered consistently, the outcome of the vote is the same.
The same applies in a poll vote.
and the concept of a proxy vote is not an issue. Every owner has the right to two votes as they own two lots. A proxy vote is only a proxy vote when an owner gives their vote to someone who represents them , but is not the owner.
in terms of the 5% rule, it is based on the number of unit entitlements. So the 5% is neither 2 proxies or 5 proxies, but 5% of the unit entitlements. {this is not the case – see below}
in order to defeat the proxy harvesters always ask for a poll vote. Any votes they hold over 5% of the unit entitlements don’t count
Revolvo
it seems to me that you are not in favour of this party, and looking for an excuse to say no.
You are under no obligation to tell the applicant why you will not approve his request, and neither are any other residents obliged to do so.
I’m not even sure who ( the SC or the OC ) has the right to approve this request. I doubt that ” a majority” need to approve this. I think that everyone would need to approve the request because the inconvenience affects everyone and there is no alternative to the inconvenience.
Just say no
Robert
Lillylou
I’ve watched this thread with some interest.
To me it seems that in the dim dark past some deal has been done with a former owner of your lot.
Before you proceed any further with your plans, I would find the meeting minutes where the exclusive use was granted.
I would then use this to formalise your exclusive use by getting a by law granted. The bylaw is the only means you have to enforce your rights.
For example, without a bylaw (which I understand you do not have now) any other lot owner would be able to enter the roof area and you would not be able to prevent them.
The bylaw giving you exclusive use entitles you to claim an ” ownership” of the roof area and prevent others trespassing on it.
You also need to be aware that exclusive use arrangements often come with a requirement to pay a rent to the OC. You are getting an ongoing benefit, but the OC only ever got one payment ( if it actually was made).
Your development almost certainly requires council approval. Since you do not own the roof space, it will be the OC making the application. Therefore it’s not just a case of getting a special resolution passed (75% passing the motion), you may need a unanimous resolution
I think you have a difficult road to travel.
Robert