When developers are selling off the plan, what is their responsibility to ensure they put forward real numbers for strata levies? We often hear that, to generate sales, developers try to minimise strata levies. Once the building is occupied, funds are below what is required to properly maintain the building and this causes additional need to raise funds to manage the building. This also hugely impacts warranties.
We feel our Strata Manager has been incompetent when dealing with our Strata property in relation to a very important fire Alarm system. We've complained to the Director of the Management company and we are getting no response. What is the best course of action to follow?
Can a member of the Council of a strata company be fully responsible for their dysfunctional performance, non compliance with bylaws and breaches and any other wrong decisions, especially financial, by not acting in the best interest of strata owners and exposing strata owners to unnecessary costs? What kind of penalties could apply under the new legislation?
How can lot owners protect their funds so no money is wasted?
We own a lot in a small strata of 9 units where 6 lots are owned by one family.
We would happily go on the Council of Owners. Our strata council voted for only 3 members to be on the council - all members of the one family. We get outvoted on every motion and cannot get a place on the council as the family members vote against us every time. It is an extremely difficult situation as we are unable to do anything about the strata.
I am an owner and live in 38 unit complex in WA. Our last AGM was held in late 2020. Using the 15-month provision of the WA Act we should have had the 2021 AGM on/before early January 2022. No such meeting was held and our Council seems powerless (perhaps I should say disinterested) to get the Strata Manager to prepare the documentation for the meeting and commit to a date.
We wrote a formal complaint letter to our council of owners and received a reply saying it was tabled for the next meeting in a few months. A few days later, we received a reply from the chairperson on behalf of the council, completely dismissing our complaint with reasons that had no bearing on what we outlined in our letter.
We were hoping for some discussion by the council. Can this be done or once tabled, do correspondence, especially complaints, have to be dealt with at a meeting?
For over 12 months, our council of owners has had terrible service from our strata company. We've experienced a lack of communication, no follow-up on requests for work to be carried out, and a portal that constantly crashes, leaving the council with no way to track the progress of jobs. We've asked for feedback from residents, and they feel the same way.
Our contract expires at the end of November, and we have informed the strata management company that we will not renew their contract. The council have identified the company we want to engage.
When does the body corporate ever have an opportunity to vary a management agreement with the onsite manager? Our agreement has many clauses which appear to be favourable to the manager, notably, the annual salary increase of over 4%, which is bleeding the Body Corporate dry.
How can we vary the agreement when, obviously, the manager is not going to agree to any proposal without compensation?
Our caretaking cost is $270,000 pa for a 25 year term with a 3% minimum annual increase.
The Body Corporate recognises the rip off and wishes to decline all future requests for additional 5 year extensions to the caretaking contract. Are there any problems in doing this?