Question: I’m on the committee for a small unit block in Sydney. We have major repairs pending. They have been voted down at EGMs more than once. How do I persuade my fellow owners to proceed with repairs
Answer: The obligation to repair common property is positive, unambiguous and immediate.
The New South Wales legislation is unambiguously strong. An owner corporation must repair and maintain the common property and that’s why strata managers bang on about repairing and maintaining the common property all the time. The obligation is so strong, you must repair and maintain common property even if you didn’t realise there was a problem. There’s no excuse like “oh, we’re thinking about it”, or “we don’t have the budget”, or “we got three quotes”, or “we’re going to do it next year”. It’s positive, unambiguous and immediate. So, how to convince owners?
Talk to a few professionals and get some advice. Trying to convince them is a really good idea, but in the end it’s an application to the consumer affairs tribunal. There’s one in each state. They more or less do the same thing in each state and it is relatively easy for an owner to go to NCAT seeking orders.
Paul Morton and Jenine Garcia
Lannock Strata Finance
E: strata@lannock.com.au
P: 1300 851 585
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