Can a body corporate committee member circulate CCTV footage of a resident to other owners?

By admin,

Our body corporate recently installed CCTV in our building's entrance foyer and basement. A resident acted in an unusual manner, though nothing criminal or offensive. The CCTV recorded the behaviour. A committee member circulated the CCTV recording to a number of other owners, causing embarrassment to the resident.

Can the committee member do this? Are there any regulations governing the storage, viewing, access or circulation of electronic images? Should the body corporate committee records be catalogued and stored in a certain way?

Can a council of owners use email for strata notifications and AGM voting?

By admin,

I own a strata lot in WA and am the elected secretary and acting treasurer. I have also been acting as a volunteer strata manager.

Our strata scheme has six lots with five owners/residents. Everyone has an email addresses. The strata uses an email address for all notifications. What is the legality of notifications and replies when communicating to owners via their email addresses? Can I arrange the AGM using email communication?

What is the requirement for disclosure of building defects in body corporate meeting minutes?

By admin,

There are a lot of repairs and maintenance being undertaken in our apartment block. This includes planned and unplanned work including urgent repairs to fix water leaks.

A number of owners currently have their units for sale. The Secretary has been requested not to mention details of the repairs in official minutes of meetings and / or Vote Outside a Committee meeting (VOC or VOCM) decisions. It is suggested that mentioning these issues will make units difficult to sell. A number of owners want only generic references to maintenance mentioned in minutes.

Should lot owners contact the strata manager or the strata committee first when raising issues?

By admin,

Could you please provide the correct channel of raising matters when it comes to issues pertaining to our strata complex? Should the lot owner first contact the Strata Manager or is the Strata Committee the first port of call? We don’t have a building manager.

Can the strata committee ignore owner emails, and what options does an owner have?

By admin,

As an owner in a strata scheme, l emailed the owners corporation about six months ago. They denied receiving the email. I resent the email via our strata manager about a month ago. The strata manager confirmed they received the email and had forwarded it to the committee. After no response, I sent a follow-up email, but they still haven't replied. Can the committee ignore my emails? What options do owners have, and is the committee required to respond?

Dealing with abandoned bicycles in a body corporate complex

By admin,

Our complex has a large numbers of rented lots, and tenancies change regularly. We have a number of bicycles racks, and the executive committee believe some of the bikes are abandoned, left by vacated residents. What is the Queensland law for unclaimed property? Can the committee tag them for removal if they have not been claimed by a certain date? If not claimed, do we take the bikes to the Police Station?

Can a strata committee switch to electronic delivery of notices without seeking formal consent from owners?

By admin,

As secretary of our 72 lot strata plan, I wish to streamline communications between the owners corporation (OC) and the lot owners. I want to favour the electronic delivery of notices and reports over snail mail.

Is it legal for a strata committee to use a closed WhatsApp group that excludes owners and makes non-transparent decisions?

By admin,

I'm an owner in a small 12 unit block of strata managed apartments in Sydney. Five owners are on the committee.

The strata committee operates a closed WhatsApp group. Discussions and decisions are not transparent, minuted, or correctly shared with owners.

Owner access is refused, as the group is for 'committee members only'. Since there are so few owners, it would make sense for everyone to join in.

Our committee is dealing with a rogue chair — what can we do to ensure they abide by the Act?

By admin,

I am a lot owner and member of our OC Committee. Together with a few other lot owners/OC Committee members, we find ourselves in the minority (by votes) due to the Chair going continually rogue, regularly bypassing consultation with the whole OC Committee for works undertaken and generally being dictatorial and unpleasant when questioned about unilateral decisions taken by him.