Question: A new owner purchased the other lot in our strata duplex. They refuse to contribute to maintenance or attend meetings. What can we do?
We are a two-lot strata duplex, with one unit above another. Our voting rights are 50:50.
A new owner purchased the downstairs lot 18 months ago. They refuse to contribute to any building maintenance, common property maintenance, or strata record keeping. We can’t them to attend an AGM to carry out the basic requirements of the strata.
We own 50% of the property and have 50% of the voting rights, yet we can’t even get the common property garden tended to unless we do it all ourselves or pay out of our own pockets to do it. What can we do?
Answer: Apply to NCAT to have a compulsory strata managing agent appointed.
You may make application to the NSW Civil & Administrative Tribunal to have a compulsory strata managing agent appointed pursuant to Section 237 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015 NSW as it appears that your scheme is not “functioning satisfactorily”, has failed to comply with legislative requirements in terms of failure to maintain and have proper meetings and is failing to perform its duties.
As the applicant, you will bear the burden of proof and need to provide evidence in support of all the dysfunction of your scheme.
As your application would be for the appointment of a compulsory appointment, you do not need to make application for mediation through NSW Fair Trading.
This post appears in Strata News #626.
Leanne Habib
Premium Strata
E: info@premiumstrata.com.au
P: 02 9281 6440
\
Leave a Reply