OC manager approved change to facade without consulting Committee

Are you referring to the building facilities manager or the strata managing agent?  Either way, they are incompetent fools, backing up SCA President Julie McLean’s assertion that there are too many untrained and unqualified amateurs passing themselves off as strata managers in Victoria.

Find out how much it would cost to rectify the situation to your satisfaction and then bill the OC managers accordingly.

By the way, I doubt if the “precedent” would stand up in a tribunal.  It was a decision the manager was not empowered to make (I’m guessing) so it can’t be used to justify any other decisions.  Might also be worth asking what relationship the manager has with window installers.

I’m no expert on Victorian law, but if the strata manager says the committee alone can’t make decisions about common property, then the strata manager certainly can’t, regardless of any delegated powers they may hold.

The strata manager’s boss must know they have screwed up and is now basically ass-covering.  It’s time to tell them who’s boss.  Get your secretary to rewrite the motion the way you want it and instruct the strata manager to send it out, unedited.

Remember, the owners are in charge – not the strata manager! If the strata manager doesn’t like that, they can take their business elswhere and wait for the bills for fixing this to come in.

Can I add a different perspective.

From the thread we know, whilst the manager has approved the window replacement, it would seem the problem stems from history.

“We now have three different types of windows/doors on the front of the building (think sliding vs swing and off centred vs centred) so it all looks a bit of a mess”

This says volumes to me.

1. The first unit window/door replacement went ahead and nobody – committee or owners did nothing about it. And not just at the time was nothing said but even at the next AGM, because if they had the committee or the owners corporation would have considered  “how do we want windows/door replacements to go in the future” recorded in the minutes This was the time to act and put a design guide in place- not 2023. The owners corporation has by default accepted this standard as it failed to do anything about it.
2. A second person has gone ahead and done a renovation and in the absence of any guidelines in place has done what they want as well. Its unknown if they asked permission, but again it would seem that no guidelines were developed after the second renovation. The owners corporation has by default again accepted this standard as it failed to do anything about it.
3. Now a third person has followed the others and replaced their windows. They have done the right thing and asked for permission. For some reason, everyone now thinks it should be different for the front unit wanting to replace their windows when the other two units who did the work can keep their windows.

I am not sure what outcome you think you are going achieve. At VCAT the following questions will be asked by someone:

• Was it reasonable that the front unit installed windows of a style and colour of their choice, based on the renovations that had already taken place and in the absence of any design/style guides?
• Was it reasonable for the strata manager to approve on behalf of the owners corporation the request, based on the renovations that had already taken place and in the absence of any design/style guides?

If you want this to stop then you need to put in place a design guide to control the type, colour and material of windows for the building, but don’t expect the 3 units to rip out what they put in, but rather include the words upon replacement windows will comply with the following standard. xxx. it will take time but the building will be around for a long time.

Develop the design guide, table at AGM and have the owners vote on the matter, if you can get a special resolution, add it to your Rules, then that is  even better.

While you are thinking about design guides, you might also think about other areas you would like to have control over. Like blinds, awnings, paint colour, where equipment may be mounted, fly screen door type etc.

If you haven’t already got a particular design guide in place when a request or a breach comes for consideration, that is the time to put one in place, not after the horse has bolted.

Then your manager can (hopefully) do the right thing.

The strata manager should have shown the committee the proposed “third” design.  The committee should ,as Julie suggested, come up with a style guide for future windows and doors.  The strata manager should not be approving work to which the committee objects and the cost of fixing this should be laid squarely at their door.