Do owners need separate insurance to rent a storage cage in strata?

By admin,

Our strata scheme has eight unused storage cages in the garage. Some owners have expressed an interest in renting the cages.

The committee agree, in principle, to rent them out for a small fee. Our strata management company requires each renter to take out an insurance policy for $10,000,000 before renting a cage.

Is it reasonable or required for the committee to impose this insurance requirement? If renters do not take out insurance, could the owners corporation or committee be exposed to liability?

What can owners do if strata records are deleted or hidden by a committee member?

By admin,

We discovered that the secretary of our strata company used a private Gmail account to instruct contractors to carry out work paid for with strata funds. The secretary says that the emails have been deleted. The secretary bypassed the strata manager, allegedly to prevent the emails from being captured as a strata record.

What action can owners take to recover the records and ensure this does not continue to occur?

Are AGM votes valid if no formal voting process is followed?

By admin,

Our strata manager ran our recent AGM on Zoom. For each resolution, they did not call for a show of hands or run a ballot. Instead, they asked questions like “is everyone happy with this” or “does anyone disagree”. This differed from the voting process used by our previous strata manager.

Can a committee require an owner to pay half the cost of a boundary fence without a formal decision?

By admin,

I received a letter from the body corporate, stating that a fence and retaining wall along common property needs replacing and that I must pay half the cost.

I cannot see any reference to this decision in recent committee meeting records. The chair obtained an estimated quote of $10,000, which seems high compared with an independent quote I obtained for $3,000.

Does a contractor need a licence to access locked common property areas?

By admin,

I own an apartment in a mixed-use scheme with residential and holiday lets. We recently engaged a contractor to carry out daily maintenance tasks, including sweeping, moving bins, cleaning the BBQ and pool. The contractor works on site about 5 to 12 hours per week, depending on the season.

Can strata schemes levy owners for repairs and keep the insurance payout?

By admin,

Our owners corporation recently received an insurance payment under “litigation cover”. We were told this part of the policy only covers items belonging to an owner that were damaged during repairs to common property. The insurer advised that $60,000 was paid to the owners corporation. The owners corporation then levied all lots to cover the cost of the repairs.

Can the owners corporation use the $60,000 insurance payment for other purposes, or must it be applied to the purpose for which the insurance claim was made?

What can an owners corporation do if levy arrears delay urgent repairs?

By admin,

Is the strata manager responsible for ensuring levies are paid on time? Who is responsible for starting debt recovery action for unpaid levies, and what timeframe should apply?

Our owners corporation is undertaking major repairs for water ingress, and we need to raise a special levy to fund the works. This will add pressure on owners, and I am concerned we will not have enough funds to meet the contract deadline.

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