Can a building manager/caretaker be on the strata committee? The legislation says no to managers and agents who lease short or long-term rentals “unless they are an owner”. Our building manager owners 50% of the lots he manages and is a committee member. This seems like a conflict of interest.
Our strata consists of six owner-occupied townhouses. To set the number of committee members at our recent AGM, three owners voted to restrict the number to three, whilst the remaining three voted for six members.
A poll vote was called, resulting in the same outcome as lot entitlement. The strata manager called a tie vote, and the status quo of three remained.
The result excludes three willing owners from contributing to their strata committee.
Why does the legislation give the owners corporation power to determine the number of members on the committee?
The chair of our strata committee passed away a few months ago. No meeting has been held to replace him, but the secretary has taken over as chair, pending a meeting to elect a new chair. The intended timing of this meeting will be the AGM in May 2025. No strata meetings will be held prior to this.
What are the implications of this decision?
At the AGM, six members were elected to the strata committee with the determination that there be a total of nine members on the strata committee with three vacancies.
I have been advised that this will mean all items will require a majority vote (five) to pass/resolve matters that the committee are considering despite there being only six elected committee members. Is this correct?
Wouldn't a majority be based on the elected committee members, so in this case, 4 out of 6?
Our AGM resulted in the election of a husband and wife, who jointly own one lot, to two committee positions. One position was obtained through a nomination from their corporate entity, and the other through an 'open' proxy from an absent lot owner. Is this election process compliant with legislation? Both owners head up the leadership team.
The chairperson was dissatisfied with a tradesperson's work. They emailed me, the secretary, to gather feedback from the executive committee. After receiving unanimous approval for the quality of work from the committee, the chairperson instructed the tradesperson to redo a significant portion of the work upon their return.
Should the chairperson have taken these actions without the backing of the committee?
Our NSW strata complex has six owners. At our recent AGM, three owners voted for a committee of three members, while the other three owners voted for a committee of six. A poll vote produced the same tied result.
The strata manager advised that because of the tie, best practice meant the number set at last year’s AGM (three members) would continue. I understood that a tied vote means the motion is defeated.
The owner of an apartment in a complex of 12 apartments in a classic 3 storey cream brick block of apartments in Hawthorn Victoria has water on the window sill of her apartment. The external aluminium window frames have been sealed by a plumber and it is difficult to assess where the water is coming from.
I own a unit in Victoria that has, over the past 10 years, developed cracks in the northern wall.
The owners corporation investigated the stormwater drains and found them to be blocked and overflowing. This has been repaired. They submitted a claim to the insurance company who sent out a structural engineer to investigate the problem. He did a review of the levels of the building and came back with an opinion that the wall had sunk due to the nature of the soil. He did not carry out a soil test as he said he was not authorised to do this and described the damage as "slight".