• Read more about Who pays when the body corporate accepted responsibility then caused significant delays?
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A damaged ceiling in my Queensland investment unit triggered an insurance claim by the unit below. The initial repair quote was $2,000, allegedly due to membrane failure in my bathroom. The body corporate accepted responsibility but took six months to initiate repairs. When I asked about the delay, they said rectification was my responsibility. An independent inspection could not confirm membrane failure or moisture in the subfloor.

• Read more about Preparing the financials for the AGM [Includes sample timeline]
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Is it legal and reasonable for a strata manager to hold an AGM in arrears for the year before in the month when the AGM was to take place, then postpone the expected AGM for the current year by 14 months?

Are there penalties for not holding AGMs within the required timeframes? Who enforces these penalties?

• Read more about Who is responsible for a boundary fence that borders a public footpath in a strata scheme?
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There is no common property at a 4-lot scheme I manage.

Who is responsible for a boundary fence that borders a public footpath and road? The owner believes the fence is the strata's responsibility. Is this correct?

• Read more about Our Body Corporate has had an Administrator Appointed
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I am the secretary of a small body corporate. Of our eight apartments, six are owner-occupied and two are rentals.

What is the cost of appointing an administrator? We have many repairs, insurance and maintenance issues to manage. The current chair, secretary and treasurer have had health issues, travel and family matters that have been taking up a lot of our time. I work full-time and am finding it very difficult to stay on top of things. The committee are also experiencing a lot of criticism and negative feedback.

What are the next steps to have an administrator appointed?

• Read more about Are external roller shutters for energy efficiency good weather protection in a strata building?
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Our 9 level building is investigating options to reduce heat and weather on windows, including installing external roller shutters on East and West windows for apartments with balcony access. The shutters would be attached to the external frames of the windows. What are other buildings doing to provide shade and protect against weather?

• Read more about Who is responsible for maintaining trees outside a lot's exclusive use area?
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We live in an Accommodation Module complex on the Gold Coast. The boundaries of each lot's exclusive use areas are marked on the plans within the CMS.

Often, the lot's fences are not where the exclusive use boundaries are marked. Some fences are up to four meters outside of the exclusive use areas. In two cases, very old, large fig trees are on the land between the exclusive use area and the fence.

• Read more about More transparency and accountability over how sinking fund is are spent
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The executive committee of our CTS collect a sinking fund contribution from all owners, however, we don't have a sinking fund plan or a sinking fund report. The committee has stated there is no requirement for them to do so.

At the recent AGM, they doubled the contribution with no details on planned expenditure. The budget for the last financial year lists money spent from the sinking fund as miscellaneous.

If levies are collected for the sinking fund, should there be full transparency, governance and accountability on what the money is for and how it is spent?

• Read more about Resident locks a common property gate blocking access to utility meters
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In our strata group, a tenants has put a lock on a common property gate that leads into their backyard. The backyard contains the gas and electrical meters. We no longer have access to these service.

Is the backyard considered common property because of the location of the meters? Or would there be an easement? Are the residents able to deny access to space? Can they put a lock on the common property gate?

• Read more about How do you re-establish a strata scheme that has become defunct with no records or funds?
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How do I re-establish a NSW strata scheme that became defunct quite a long time ago? There does not seem to be any records or funds for the property. The owners of one of the lots have changed several times and the owner of the other lot has dementia and lacks legal capacity but does have a power of attorney in force. I imagine there are many 2-lot schemes in this situation and they will be flushed out by the Strata Hub annual reporting requirement.

I have a copy of the strata plan and a title search for the common property, but that's it.

• Read more about What protection do strata insurance policies offer against defamation claims?
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