Drugs, prostitution, overcrowding: why a Sydney building hit back

The following letter was sent from Regis Towers in response to a series of questions I asked about the alleged ‘scandal’ of tenants having their access keys cancelled because of , they claimed, minor infractions of ‘draconian’ security by-laws.  The picture revealed below is aof a building on the frontline of the battle against overcowding in Sydney apartment blocks, resorting to desperate measures in the face of a state government that just won’t help – JimmyT

Please see below responses to your questions from the Executive Committee of Strata Plan 56443.

 Why did the OC bring in the over tenanting by-laws?

Large numbers of people were occupying units meant for only four people, (in the case of two-bedroom units) to occupy.

What are the issues with the enforcement of the by-laws?

1. Substantial Health and Safety issues are involved. As in the Bankstown incident with the death of the two young people in the unit fire where it was discovered many people were living in a single unit creating life threatening health and fire issues not only to the occupants of the particular unit but to all other occupants of the building. In the case of a fire, the illegally partitioned units can quickly facilitate an uncontrollable fire from which the occupants may not be able to escape, not to speak of the occupants of the rest of the building.

2. The Owners Corporation has a duty under the Strata Schemes Management Act, 1996 to act to prevent breaches of the development control laws where it is aware of such breaches. Over tenanting is in fact illegal (in case pro over-tenanting proponents like the Redfern Legal Centre may not be aware).

3. Owners are bearing the substantial costs of the over use of the building’s facilities.

4. Other illegal activities are flourishing in the inner city buildings, such as prostitution, whereby large numbers of young women (and, we suspect, young men) are overcrowded into units by their overlord’s/landlords accommodation provided. Drug trafficking is also rife within the buildings. The access cards are disrupting these activities and are upsetting the criminals running the operations. Accordingly, the operators, with the assistance of greedy and dishonest Real Estate Agents are using Government agencies, like the Department of Fair Trading, the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal (CTTT) and, now, the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) to break down the access controls put in place by legitimate owners and occupiers of the building. Where people are found to be over-tenanting and/or using units for other illicit purposes and giving access to the building to people who have no legitimate purpose and are caught by the Building Security, the Members of the CTTT are unwittingly accepting the lies set out in Applications to the CTTT and granting urgent Interim Orders against the Owners Corporation requiring the re activation of the access cards to those persons at no cost and for periods of up to 3 months. It is apparent the CTTT Members have no idea what is actually taking place in these buildings; if they did, they would not be making such orders and unwittingly, assisting the criminals running the scams in our buildings. There is a lot of money in it for the criminals in these operations. (There are a large number of young illegals housed in the building. The Federal Police are only yards away from the Regis Tower but nothing is done. It is not hard to imagine why these young illegals end up owing money to the criminal elements and are then compelled to do whatever is required to repay money owed.)

5. Vandalism is common. People who are not owners or stable tenants appear not to care about the facilities and property of the building. Large amounts of levies are expended repairing damage to the building. Facilities such as water, electricity, swimming pools, elevators, etc. are stolen or damaged by these people. It is costing legitimate owners. The dishonest over-tenanting (and otherwise) owners and agents are making substantial amounts of money at the cost of the honest owners and tenants.

6. Safety is reduced with the numbers of strangers entering the building.

7. Substantial amounts of black money are being made by the operators of the over tenanting etc. syndicates.

8. On 23 June, 2011 Ministerial representation to the Fair Trading Minister outlining the problems with the Strata Scheme operations resulted in the 7.30 Report in 2011 or 2012 wherein the Premier, Barry O’Farrell, promised to resolve all of the problems within twelve 12 months. Nothing has been done by the Minister or the Premier to date. (see 7.30 Report)

9. In 2008, the Telegraph ran an article which is in direct contradiction to its article of yesterday. Its article spoke of the problems of over tenanting and the promises from the Lord Mayor, Clover Moore to have her Council Inspectors carry out raids on the over tenanted units. Nothing was ever done to our knowledge.

10. In January, 2014 a meeting took place with members of the Executive Committee of Regis Towers with a Mr French and Mr Sharman from Fair Trading. As a result, Mr French advised he was referring matters to the ICAC for investigation. The Chairman of the Executive Committee subsequently said he agreed with Mr French’s referral to the ICAC and confirmed the Committee’s desire that he so do.

11. The Owners Corporation has received correspondence, in June 2013, from City of Sydney specifically addressed to Regis Towers. The council notes that the scheme is to “use its powers under the Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 (“the Act”) to take action against non-complying tenants and property owners who allow for overcrowding …” (see attached).

12. The Owners Corporation is not receiving any assistance from the CTTT in meeting its obligations under the Act