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in this territorial society, I have no problems with other people having pets – but if it barks and disturbs my peace, then Houston we have a problem.
Across our courtyard a young tenant couple have an unapproved dog – which we noticed when it barked for several hours non-stop one day while they were out (typically dog lovers think their dog doesn’t bark – it doesn’t when they are home – then barks for hours when they are not there !) – I put a note under their door warning ‘your dog has been barking for hours today – if this continues, expect EVICTION !’
It was quiet for about a week – and now it starts again – they go out – dog barks for hours – so now I’m looking up standard NSW strata bylaws:-
“16 Keeping of Animals
(1) Subject to section 49 (4), an owner or occupier of a lot must not, without the approval in writing of the owners corporation, keep any animal on the lot or the common property.”They don’t have written approval (I’m on the committee) – so the next step, a simple note – ‘keep your dog quiet – or either it, or all or you, will be evicted – without further notice’
interestingly – the same tenants recently pushed our limits by overstaying our visitor parking (not for residents daily parking) and continued until we advised the next offence would cost them $100 a day fee. Amazingly he hasn’t parked there since !
Clear consequences change behaviour instantly.
in NSW my understanding is that, apart from the story being a probable breach of ‘appearance in keeping’ bylaws, common property items like original windows are generally repaired and maintained using common funds – but if the owner decides to renovate or replace with new/different then that incurs a change of use and thereafter the owner tends to be responsible for any repairs to it.
Our strata was asked to pay bills for $20K to stop a unit skylight leaking – but no other units had skylights. After intensive research we found the skylight was not original and had been added by a subsequent occupant. The current owner swore it wasn’t them, but wanted us to repair it. We ended up offering them two choices – either remove it to restore the roof to original (no skylight) condition (which would have cost thousands) or sign an exclusive use bylaw accepting responsibility to maintain it in future. Not wanting to pay any money now, they finally agreed to the bylaw.
Then today – undergoing renovations after poor tenants for the last four years, we get a claim from this unit for a leaking pipe. Hmm – I’m interested to see if that might come from anywhere near the skylight …
downloaded your ‘Podcast’ file – appeared as ‘9187840’ without a file extension so Windows didn’t know what program to use to try to play it – so I renamed it with .MP3 – didn’t play – tried .MP4 – didn’t play.
So maybe try again on the podcast file.
good point about poll votes thanks – I’ll try to remember that next time.
We had a nasty takeover attempt by a toxic owner who was also a strata manager seeking our strata management contract. They employed 2 men in suits to knock on non-English speaking units and mislead them with ‘want to save money? sign here!’ – many susceptible owners did so.
When we turned up to the AGM the nasty simply announced and passed a whole raft of new by-laws advantaging them. This got the owners talking – ‘what’s going on here?’
When it came to their agenda item to vote themselves into power as strata manager, I asked if they intended to use their ill-gotten proxies to vote themselves into power and take over our contract – they said ‘of course’ – a near-riot broke out when the assembled owners realised they’d been scammed.
After a half-hour of shouting and argument I advised the chairman to use their power to declare the motion out of order which they finally did.
The nasty power-seeker protested high and low – we said sorry – the Chair has ruled.
After years of struggle the dragon has been slain. Nasty b. has hardly been seen since.
faceless men that control our lives ? – guess what, those faceless men are other owners like you – in your complex – that you haven’t bothered to get to know.
people like to complain – but don’t want to get involved – so what do we have ?
governments where our total commitment is 20 minutes every 4 years to vote – owners corporations’ executive committees ‘of the people, by the people, for the people’ where owners’ only commitment is a once a year AGM to vote for a new executive committee, and you don’t even have to (and most owners don’t bother to) attend !
so whenever I hear a bleating complaint from a new owner – I suggest they get involved and join the EC – ‘oh no – I don’t want’ or ‘I’m busy’ – OK – so are the EC members – most have full-time jobs – so you don’t want / you’re too busy to get involved, but you demand that these unpaid volunteers fix your problem immediately – great – see how that works ?
I like the t-shirt – ‘sure – let me drop everything and work on your problem …’
thank you NSW Fair Trading for thinking of the children – excellent job !
now – further to this admirable aim – I plan to advise the NSW State government and RTA that I will hold them responsible for any child who is injured or killed crossing a road – clearly it is their responsibility to ensure the safety of children in this high-risk area – please can they provide me their bank account number from which I can deduct the appropriate funds for damages from any failure on their part to provide a safe environment.
Looking forward to a safer environment where we can all ‘think of the children’.
yep – standard bylaw number 1 (the most important) reads like ‘must not any noise at any time likely to disturb another resident’
I letter offenders that they could be evicted and/or fined $550 for breaching the bylaws – that usually shuts them up short order.
Whale – despair not – it can be done – here’s how.
Don’t ask the owners – just decide to do it – here’s how we did it – the EC decided that as the only responsible body charged with maintenance of the whole of the complex, we would go ahead and get a Sydney Water WaterFix done for the whole of complex.
This cost something like $25 per unit (maybe $220 subsidized value) – we paid from body corporate funds – and got it done by notice/arrangement – coming on these dates, provide access or pay a call-back fee – done and dusted in short time – and – listen to this – payback was 1 month ! – meaning the next months lower water usage bill recovered the cost of the WaterFix. So – get that done first.
Now – recently – we have decided to install individual wireless water meters to each unit. This will be a big cost – around $1500 per unit – and require a special levy – but here’s the beauty – as soon as it is done, owner levys will drop by the amount of the water usage bills, which will then be charged to the previously-wasteful/overcrowding tenants !
You can bet that as soon as the tenants get some big water bills – they will very quickly change their habits of long showers and inviting all their friends over for free showers – as they will be paying the water usage bills in future !
I’m guessing the special levy cost will be paid back by the reduced levies the the first year – tenants change and become water-saving conscious, and owners pay lower strata levies – sweet !
hello from another long term EC member – hmmm – in any complex there is typically one toxic psychopath
who enjoys making life hell for others – the question is – is it you, or someone else ? 
a lot depends on whether the malicious owner lives in your complex or elsewhere, and whether you think they are more likely a psychopath or just a meddlesome worrier with too much time on their hands.
tampering with mail – is a federal offence – I’d address that – ask them directly why they think you were, and clarify any misunderstanding – presumably as secretary you have to receive mail addressed to the Owners Corporation and may have a separate letterbox for that?
embezzling funds – again a serious offence – same question – all meeting agendas/minutes/decisions/accounts/receipts should be on record for perusal on payment of the standard strata search fee (like $20?) – do not spend time on general accusations – ask them to specify their concern – put up or shut up.
EC should present a unified front – discuss the problem at an EC meeting – put a note on the record discussing the concerns and the resulting decision – on public record for the other owners to see now and in future to dissuade this person from wanting to stir up trouble again.
tenants kicking your door – call the police over the threats – get a police report – send one warning to the agent/owner – next incident – eviction – required due to continuing breach of standard by-law 1 – ‘must not make noise at any time … likely to disturb peaceful enjoyment of another resident’ – kicking your door and calling you a c##t certainly falls into that category – see p.38 (and Notice to Comply on p.41) of
https://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/pdfs/About_us/Publications/ft045.pdf
step back from the emotion – and consider how things look to a disinterested owner – plan things from that perspective – put everything on record so happy days can return – good luck !
yep – I reckon you’ve got a lazy avoider as strata manager
– (I’ve got a slack one in mind but don’t want to get sued for libel) – if you don’t already know who’s on the executive committee(EC), ask around – then approach the friendliest member to put your case.question – do you have tiles or other floor covering – in which case they might argue that part is your cost – but damp to your walls from above is definitely common property/strata responsibility – anything below the surface or paint is generally common property.
to save the $800-1000 report you could get 2 or 3 opinions from builders or tradies to have a look and give you a quote for fixing it – without seeing it if it’s concrete floor I’d imagine a skim coat of concrete to change the fall – but watch for dampcourses so you don’t breach those – an alternative may be to dig/grind a trench to divert the flow
that way you’d have some cost information to save the EC time and deliberation about the $800-1000 report – e.g if you can get a guy to do it for $500 then that could look like a no-brainer decision for them to make on the spot at their next meeting.
or – if like our EC where I’m a member – by email discussion/decision, they could instruct the strata manager to have the work done, as soon as they have the various costs in front of them – that’s where you could nudge it along as above …
who is going to charge an EC member acting in good faith who makes a slight mistake ? – the resident who keeps raising it in emails asking for the next thing he'd like – that's who.
the previous poster raised his concern about timer lights – if someone said they'd like a different time, it wasn't changed, then someone was injured, does that leave the committee liable? for sure the injured would like to think so.
accepting collective responsibility ? – the only acceptance of collective responsibility I've typically seen is a collective wish to avoid paying any increase in levies, and a collective outrage if there are any special levies.
as for standing for election – that's usually like the joke line of soldiers asked for volunteers – everyone else takes one step backwards, leaving the poor unsuspecting up for pointing fingers at and blaming when things are not quite what they like.
I'm not bemoaning the role – I enjoy it – I'm just giving my observations of the typical owners' behavior towards collective 'responsibility'.
and I still think this legislation is unfair, unreasonable, harsh and unconscionable if it seeks to punish unpaid amateur volunteers for things they did at a cost to themselves for no financial reward and no personal benefit in order to help others.
glad to see it's not just me that feels these threatened punishments place an onerous and unreasonable burden on unpaid amateur volunteers who are just trying to do the right thing – and have opened up the field to any idiot who wants to ask for whatever – to add as a nice sledgehammer threat, 'and by the way, you might be fined $600,000 and go to jail for 5 years if you don't do what I want – you wouldn't want that, would you … ?'
simple solution is to have an OHS audit done – yes but if I recall, a response to one of the recent smh articles basically said that OHS 'professionals' cover their own backsides by listing everything that could ever possibly cause a problem in the future – so they can't be sued. Leaving the owners with prospective million dollar bills to replace everything.
So if that's the competent person's advice – fix everything – you see how they've still shifted the blame onto the poor committee member who has to try to persuade owners at AGMs to spend money they don't want to – and of course you know how people hate special levies.
So OK – sure I can suggest (as only 1 of a number committee members) that we get an OHAS report done – someone suggested $1000 – and we'll see how that pans out – but if they come back with that nonsense about security screens for every balcony I may well spit the dummy.
I also would certainly appreciate that clarification on unpaid amateur volunteer committee members – and if they are presumed to be workers who can be punished, then how this fits with the stated intentions of several laws that volunteers acting in good faith should not be punished, as this would discourage anyone from volunteering for the good of the community.
Thanks for your thoughts – all the best.
thanks Jimmy – OK I take your point – you need a big stick to encourage lethargic selfish people who repeatedly ignore reasonable requests to repair common property … (tho' as for bad agents representing bad owners – I might argue that may also be the democratic/collective wish of owners corporations comprising many overseas absent landlords who only watch their cashflow)
so if I understand your perspective, the sword of Damocles hanging over my head is only to serve as a reminder of responsibility for decisions affecting other people …
tell you want tho' – if ever any executive committee member is hit with such fines or jail time for failure to whatever – I predict a mass resignation from strata committees everywhere – and then governments will have to pick up the pieces – gee – why does no-one want to be a volunteer ?
You say I'm a worker getting paid in kind for improving my property.
I say I'm a unpaid volunteer – if/when I get paid in cash – something I have never received in 20 years of strata committee membership – then I may think of myself as a worker. Until then I'm going to be referring to myself as an unpaid part-time amateur volunteer – and I'll argue that in court all the way – it would be unfair and unreasonable, harsh and unconscionable to punish me for something I did in good faith as an unpaid part-time amateur volunteer.
I rest my case.
thanks for the quick reply JimmyT – my concern was that reference to $600k fines and 5 year jail terms was now being used repeatedly as a blunt instrument negotiating tool by a resident asking for a new light ('safety feature') where one had never been installed or deemed necessary in the original design.
I suppose I could extrapolate to the recent series of articles in smh claiming owners corporations were at risk of being sued if they didn't install safety grill/mesh outside every balcony – so by your logic, we have been warned a kid could be killed falling off a balcony – so if we don't spend a million dollars installing stupid ugly mesh or security grilles around every balcony for the entire building, am I now liable to be fined $600,000 and go to jail for 5 years ?
Do you see my concern ?