Can an owners corporation give verbal approval for major works?

By admin,

An owner has installed an awning over her front door without Owners Corporation approval.

I notified the Strata Manager of this issue and they replied “We understand prior to our management (appointed in 2020), this was approved by owners verbally.”

Can the owners corporation make verbal approvals of the major work by-law? As I know, all of the unauthorised works should be applied in writing to the Owners Corporation, and then the outcome should also be written. Am I correct?

Do common area light changes require a special resolution?

By admin,

My question is about the decision making process of the strata committee. Our strata committee decided to change the light fittings in all the common areas without reference to any non-committee owners. Under section 108 of the Strata Schemes Management Act I though all changes must go to a general meeting and they require a special resolution.

How to respond when a majority owner controls strata spending

By admin,

I live in Newcastle and my wife and I own a unit in a 90 unit complex. I recently attended a special meeting regarding budgets and the setting of levies to repay debt from a loan taken out for remedial fire repair works. There are several big spends in the future capital works budget for lobby redesign / painting / carpet upgrade etc that total $400K over 10 yrs.

How should strata committee decisions by email be recorded?

By admin,

We have five members on the owners committee. An email by our Strata Manager is sent to all members to decide on something like approvals for maintenance on property or common area. Only one or two members vote by return email and CC the Strata Manager and the remaining members so everyone can see their vote & comments.

When the Strata Manager then approves or disapproves a job we have no idea if the other three members have voted individually or as a group or what they have voted and when asked, the Strata Manager refuses to disclose the information.

Can late levy interest be waived without a general meeting?

By admin,

Due to some unfortunate circumstances over the last 2 years, I have been late in paying levies and whilst they are always paid despite being late, have accrued both late fees and interest which I did not notice. This has resulted in an arrears amount of $182 to date. This amount is made up of purely fees and not levies.

Can a strata committee grant exclusive use of common property?

By admin,

Recently, the committee passed a resolution giving away part of the common property as an exclusive use storeroom.

I thought this had to be a special resolution put to all members of the building, not just the committee. Is this correct? How would I go about correcting this.

What can owners do about closed-door strata committee decisions?

By admin,

The chair of the Strata committee enforces the 'owners cannot interrupt' rule. All decisions are made behind closed doors before the formal Strata Committee meeting.

These closed-door meetings result in an affirmative or negative vote on each agenda item frequently without costings or reasons for decisions. These meetings have not been classified as ' subcommittee' meetings.

If an owner wants to make a comment, can the comment be added to the agenda by way of a motion after it has been issued? Once the agenda is issued, I thought it couldn't be altered.

Do you have to respond to every email in a small strata scheme?

By admin,

My husband and I own two units in a 4 unit block. The other two lots are owned by a single lot owner. All units are rented out to tenants.

The other owner continuously finds problems with small things. They send at least 6 emails in the space of an hour and continues to waste the time of our Strata Manager and contractors getting various quotes which we can’t afford . This never ending correspondence causes me emotional stress.

Do I have to continually reply to emails or can I withhold comments until the AGM?

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