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The last time I discussed this with a strata lawyer he indicated the biggest problem is that the law on this has never been tested as no one has been game to risk going to court and become the guinea pig.
I love your idea of clamping a volunteer vehicle to send a message!
Whale – Me? A Strata Manager? I’m just an old retired guy with an interest in the industry.
That perspective you have gained is something that a lot of owners could benefit from. Most think they understand strata, but in reality they are so far removed from reality it isn’t funny. Unfortunately most won’t appreciate just how much work you are doing on their behalf.
struggler – If you were as sensible and level headed on the phone as in your post here your Strata Manager wouldn’t have hated to hear from you at all. They would have realised they could actually work with you as opposed to the screamers who they usually have to deal with who are only interested in abusing, swearing and making threats. Those people are impossible to deal with and steal time that an SM could be spending attending to the civilised people.
You have summed up a lot of the issues beautifully.
Whale – Whilst $10k is a lot of money for an individual, in a 27 lot plan, that translates to roughly $1 a day per lot for all the services a good SM provides. I’m not saying you had a good SM given the problems you list, but $1 a day won’t get you a cup of coffee or newspaper these days, so it is not a lot to ask for all the messy little things an SM can be saddled with, such as being available to take calls from all 27 lot owners and/or their partners over the most trivial matters. The time wasting of some owners is the real killer – I’m aware of SM who got a half hour or more lecture about the bad mobile reception within the strata with demands for the SM to get it fixed now.
Someone with common sense and a co-operative OC should be able to self manage without too much difficulty and save a good amount that can be put towards repairs. The real issue with self management is keeping up with things such as fire safety and asbestos handling requirements and handling complaints once you have one or more obnoxious owners. It is when these things go wrong that OCs come looking for an SM to clean up the mess.
Trouble is the privacy argument is spurious. The EC members bought into a partnership with other people therefore they have have a responsibility to communicate with the other owners regarding their jointly owned asset.
If the EC doesn’t want this sort of interaction they should not be involved with Strata.
Owners hould not need a degree in law to be able to protect their investments and hard-earned money.
Unfortunately modern life dictates that if you don’t have that degree that you be willing to employ someone who does, to protect your largest investment. After all that is what you would do if you lived in a Torrens title property.
The buck stops with… wait for it… the Owners Corporation!
It is the OC who has the power to do what needs to be done. I seem to be reading a lot of criticism of the SM and then in the next breath the mention of apathetic and unengaged owners. So why is the SM the favourite scape goat? Because he is an easy target. After all he is being paid such an exorbitant amount. Seriously have a look at management fees and read some of the industry papers kicking around that clearly identify that management fees should quadruple if you expect all the bells and whistles that are always touted as the responsibility of the SM. And please don’t make the common mistake of assuming that levies = management fees. But owners are quick to complain when management fees go up so the situation is not about to change.
The SM is not a Project Manager, he is not a Facilities Manager, he is not a Building Manager, he is not a cleaning inspector, he is not a building inspector, counsellor or any of the myriad other things owners and tenants think he should be.
The SM is essentially a book keeper and co-ordination point for reports of repairs etc that need to be done. Just that can entail a horrendous amount of work given that an individual strata manager is probably looking after between 50 and 100 strata plans and being paid lousy money for the privilege. I’m not sure how the industry can keep enough managers on the books given the salary (search out the award if you don’t believe me). Then again, the good ones probably move to sales for the big commissions or leave the industry for better pay, which means, who are you left with? Hmmmm…
At the end of the day it is the OC who chooses the SM, it is the OC that sets the levies, it is the OC that makes all decisions on maintenance and if the owners are apathetic then they will be bad decisions. Owners need to start taking responsibility for what is probably their largest asset and stop just looking for scape goats.
End of rant.
Also remember the Strata Manager is probably managing up to 100 Strata Plans and is therefore juggling the constraints of the Act and the whims of maybe a thousand owners for when they would like to have the meeting. There are only so many hours in the day.
If you are looking to terminate you should be identifying a replacement as soon as possible and formally requesting that an appropriate motion be added to the AGM agenda. You can’t terminate until it has been put to all owners at a meeting with the requisite notice.
Negatives are to be avoided, however they are hardly uncommon in Admin Funds and always look better with a strong Sinking Fund balance like this.
You really need to understand why the balance is negative. Did the Strata Plan have some extraordinary expenditure that has caused the issue? Were the budget recommendations accepted at the last few AGMs? Are other owners behind with their levy payments?
You and your solicitor need to look at the data extracted by your Strata Inspector to see how the situation has come about. All the information should have been extracted during the strata search. If not ask the Strata Inspector for more detail, they should understand this stuff inside out.
The names of the EC should be documented in the AGM Minutes.
You could also attend the Strata Managers office and perform an S109 search on the strata plan’s records which allows you to obtain contact details of the other owners.
@Jef said:
…If individual EC members have the right to report to the Strata Manager and, as a result of such report, the Strata Manager acts as has happened in my case, then all owners and/or residents are clearly open to bullying by such individuals.
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When our 6 grandchildren come to play each Thursday after school I have to leave the car in a visitor car space across my garage to access whatever it is we need.
The same happens when I need access to anything stored in my garage at other times.
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How can this be bullying when you are the one in breach of the By-law?
The problem seems to be that you feel you are exempt from the rules because you are using your garage for storage. This is exactly how things break down in all strata complexes – lack of respect for others. Maybe strata is not suitable for you.
