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OC approved a motion for the EC to ‘act on their behalf’ to engage with a lawyer with regards to implementing new by-laws. Despite indicating ‘Yes, yes we will consult with the OC…’ no such consultation ever took place and they have pushed thru motions which they have essentially dictated. Requests by OC members to view the relevant documentation of discussions, decisions etc with the lawyer, they have refused. Wouldn’t the documents belong to the OC, though the secretary would be the ‘custodian’ ? Shouldn’t he provide the doco when requested ?
Please advise.
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Is there a managing agent? You can request to view the OC records.
That said, when we reviewed our rules (ACT-speak for By-laws), we had correspondence back and forth between the EC and a lawyer and I don’t think it would have been very helpful to share all that with the owners generally. I think it would have been more confusing than enlightening.
What we did do was distribute several rounds of draft rules for comment from owners. We wrote an accompanying background paper each time which included a considerable amount of explanation which reflected both the lawyer’s advice, responses to earlier feedback from owners, discussion about what certain parts of the rules were intended to achieve, and why we didn’t include some things that had been suggested.
Do you have any specific concerns about particular aspects of the ‘pushed through’ rules? We had one or two owners who managed to ‘get the wrong end of the stick’ about some of our rule amendments. Frankly rather bizarre interpretations. Perhaps Flatchatters can comment on whether certain provisions of your by-laws are conventional or unusual or even invalid due to inconsistency with legislation?
@PeterC said:
Is there a managing agent? You can request to view the OC records.Yep. You may be asking the wrong people. The lawyers will have all sorts of legitimate reasons for refusing to hand over correspondence and the strata committee may have their own agenda.
But, by law, the strata manager has to show you the records, including any official correspondence (if they have it). If they don’t and the committee refuses, put a motion up at the next strata committee meeting or, even better, AGM, demanding that they be made available to owners.
You are party to the decisions, you are contributing to the bills and you are partly liable for the consequences of any decisions made, so you are legally entitled to see the correspondence.
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 can tell you pretty much exactly what they will say: “Have you raised this with your strata committee?”
To take a complaint to Fair Trading you have to show that you have been denied your statutory rights.
Why are you not approaching your strata manager on this? Or don’t you have one?
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 have a similar problem, as above, but in my case the strata manager is the bully and disregards the law in every sense. At the latest EGM, it was stated that I made no levy payment according to the manager’s records and that in court this will outweigh my receipts of payments made. Can a manager make a statement like this and take me to court?
Can you prove yopu made the payments (apart from showing receipts)?
OIf the strata manager is incompetent and a bully raise it with the Owners Corp and ask for a motion to be added to the agenda of your next AGM calling for his replacement as strata manager.
Meanwhile, contact Fair Trading (Tel. 13 32 20) and make an official complaint.
As we have said many times on this forum, the strata manager is supposed to do what the owners corporation and strata committee tell them, not the other way round.
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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