Question: How do you think the quality of the existing working relationship between the voluntary committee of owners and the building manager impacts whether variations are granted or not?
Answer: I think there is a big impact if you have a level of disharmony between your committee and your caretaker.
It comes down to the personality disputes that I was referring to before. I think it does have a huge impact on whether variations are granted or not.
My opinion, genuinely no matter what motion is being put to owners, if it comes with a (committee endorsement, most owners follow suit on the committee and think ‘You’re the ones that we appointed. We respect the work that you’ve done. You’ve got the day to day administration and operation of that body corporate.’ If you’re going to endorse something, genuinely owners that aren’t committee members will support that position. If there is a personality dispute between the committee and the caretaker and if the committee takes quite a firm position on variations and the like, I genuinely see that that will impact the relationship in so far as owners probably won’t vote for it either.
I also see that that disconnect between the caretaker and the committee is disadvantageous for both parties because what was most likely started as a performance based issue that could have been resolved with some training and with good communication, has escalated into something that is now a personality issue. My opinion needs to fix that you either need to change in the committee or you need to change the caretaker. Because otherwise working out communication, policy, putting in mechanisms and the like, they’re generally only effective to an extent.
So, to answer the question, I think there is a big impact if you have a level of disharmony between your committee and your caretaker.
This post appears in Strata News #525.
Jessica Cannon Cannon + Co Law P: 07 5554 8560