Weeding out owner who won’t work

Owners Corp money being spent on private property has had Flat Chat readers going round and round the garden, not to mention being led up the garden path.

QUESTION: The strata manager of a villa complex has just given approval for a gardener to be employed to maintain the private garden belonging to one villa owner on the basis that it contains a stormwater retention pit which is common property.

I have objected because even though the unkempt garden is overgrown with weeds it does not interfere with the functioning of the pit. The garden itself is the owner’s responsibility while the OC is responsible for the pit and it is improper for the gardening to become an OC expense. Am I correct? – ChrisJ, via Flat Chat Forum.

ANSWER: The strata manager may well have the delegated authority to make these kind of decisions (as many do), but are they allowed to pay for work to be done on private property?

Conspiracy theories about rorts and favouritism were put on hold when further enquiries revealed that the request for the work on the messy garden had come from a different owner from the one getting the garden makeover.

I reckon this work was probably ordered because the look of the yard was lowering the tone (and therefore value) of the complex.  But was the strata manager entitled to make that call?

And the answer is yes, assuming these villas have the usual by-laws stating that owners have to keep their garden neat and tidy.  Under section 63 of the strata Act the Owners Corp can undertake work that an owner or tenant should have done either as a ‘duty’ or under the terms of a by-law.

This owner was clearly too busy watching Backyard Blitz to do the work. But before you permanently park the lawnmower, hoping your Owners Corp will send in the Weed Patrol, there’s a sting in this tale.

The Act also allows the OC to charge the negligent owner for the cost of doing the work.  Is it worth the hassle? Join the discussion here.