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I have recently been served a notice in relation to a breach of the by law regarding putting screws into common property walls. There are at least 7 other units in our block of 14 where owners have breached the same by law – inserting screws, drilling holes in front doors, affixing external sun blinds, painting common property walls to match their interior. These are only the instances I can see from outside the building.
Of course most owners have hung artwork, or mirrors and painted common property walls over the last three decades.
My question is – can this by law be selectively applied to me or is the Owners Corporation required to be even handed in by law breach notices?
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Whale is correct and apologies for the “selfies” comment. It was meant as a joke and then I allowed myself to be sidetracked by the “privacy” discussion.
If you and other owners are sufficiently concerned and intimidated, I suggest you get together and pay for a consultation with a strata lawyer.
However, individuals and groups can achieve a lot by working out what your areas of concerns are – and I mean crunching down to the most obvious cases of mismanagement and not getting involved in ti-for-tat “he did this so I want that” arguments. Then you have three clear avenues.
1. Go to the EC and/or strata manager and say what your concerns are (and why) and ask what they are going to do about it.
2. Go to the owners and ask the same question – they have the power to sack the whole EC and strata manager, if you get the numbers.
3. Go to Fair Trading and NCAT and ask for orders to rectify the situation – or even for the strata manager to be replaced.
But before you do anything, I would advise you to take the SCA’s online strata committee course (which is free) just to let you know what’s right and what’s wrong.
And have a look around this website – but be warned; it is the nature of the beast that we occasionally drift into “ifs and ands” “what-ifs” and other forms of Bush Lawyerism (and I am moere guilty than most). Stick to the facts and if you think you need legal advice, ask a specialised strata lawyer (not just your family solicitor).
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.
Whale is 100 percent right (as usual).
However, some Owners Corps will agree to either remove the restriciton on spending for the next year or raise the limit. This happens more commonly in buildings that are undergoing repairs or upgrades where they know that work needs to be done and they know roiughly how much it may cost but they don’t know exactly how much till they start the work.
A good example might be where say, you have budgetted $10,000 for driveway repairs and $10,000 for lanscaping. The contactor might tell you you will get a better result if you spent $12K on the driveway and that would mean you only had to spend $5K on landscaping.
Do you really want the hassle of a general meeting for something that’s going to give a better result and cost you less?
It’s a power that must be used wisely – but it is very useful in the right hands.
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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