Could a Monkey’s Uncle be a Strata Committee Member

Ten years' familiarity with the secret-society posing as residents' committee members would have prompted me to pursue a number of issues re: committee members' eligibility with the Office of Fair Trading — had I one skerrick of confidence in that Office

' Management Statement ?  What's that ?  No, I haven't read it so I don't know what it says '.  I've heard that more times than I can count from residents' committee members – at least in our community

This no doubt explains the numerous ways in which members and committees generally contravene said Management Statement

Apparently, strata and executive committees and their members are laws unto themselves.  They make the rules and they break the rules.  Their education may have permanently ceased at Grade 5.  They might be congenital idiots – or ex-felons.  Some might have been con-men all their lives.  Others may have extremely low IQ.  But no matter – in NSW at least, anyone (including a monkey's uncle) may be an active member of a strata or affiliated committee.   Freemasons and other secret societies have nothing on our mob.  They rented out our purpose-built strata meeting room to an individual – without consultation with the residents who all own a portion of that meeting room.  Who knows who pockets the cash.  Then, our secret-society committee members hold secret (naturally) meetings in a private apartment – entry to which can only be gained via a 'secret knock' !  I kid you not

For ten years, they have refused to post committee members' names or any contact details for the committee.  Individual committee members arbitrarily 'give permission' to various residents and withhold it from others.  For example, all committee members had air-conditioners installed on their strata properties.  But when a man whose wife suffered a severe allergy applied umpteen times for 'permission' to install an air-conditioner, his application was repeatedly rejected, despite that he shared a common wall with one air-conditioned committee member and lived across the path from three other committee members who likewise enjoyed air-conditioned comfort.  All the properties were identical, by the way.  Other residents were 'allowed' to install air-conditioning – if  they were amongst the favoured few 

Such gross abuse of committee-power is rampant here.  Corruption too.  So why hasn't it been investigated and curtailed ?  Maybe the fact that one of the most abusive of all is employed by the Office of Fair Trading ?  Oh, I could write a book.  Still have all the documents.  The corruption went all the way to the top and spread sideways through NSW govt.  NSW Ombudsman's Office is implicated and ICAC, not to mention State MPs.

So yes, a monkey's uncle could well be accepted as a non-compliant member of a strata or community-association committee.  Guess it would all depend on who the monkey knows …

Would we ever purchase a strata property again in NSW ?  No.  We've owned strata properties in Queensland and everything was above board.  Same number of properties were involved (approx. 50).   And I dare say there are some well-run and law-abiding strata committees in NSW, although we wouldn't be prepared to risk the chance that one or more committee members might be employed within the incongruously-named Office of Fair Trading !