Compulsory Strata Manager

That’s an interesting question.  Strata schemes have a legal obligation to fulfil their responsibilities and enact decisions made through the correct channels.

But that is a very flexible concept, taking into account the legalities of the original decision, the capacity for it to be overturned by subsequent votes and the oversight of NCAT.

In any case, rather than explore the legalities of this, it’s probably worth looking at the practicalities.  If the compulsory strata manager (CSM) were obliged to follow through on decisions made before they took charge, who would enforce that?

Assuming that the CSM doesn’t think these decisions were a good idea, owners would have the option to pursue the case through a Section 232 (2) claim at NCAT for failure to exercise a function.

The CSM is going to go to the tribunal and say, hang on, this strata scheme was so dysfunctional that the Tribunal appointed me to take over, and I don’t think this is a good idea.  The Tribunal member is likely to agree and use their discretionary power to revoke the decision in question.

End result, you have added extra charges to your strata management bill with nothing achieved, while probably making sure that the CSM is in place for at least another year because of the perception of continuing dysfunction of the strata scheme in not letting old issues lie.

Your best option is to convince the CSM that the decision was a good one and that they have the power to make it happen.  If you can’t do that, you are probably wasting your time in pursuing this.