This article discusses strategies for managing unreasonable owner demands, advising councils of owners to set clear communication boundaries, prioritize necessary responses, and avoid engaging in non-urgent or hypothetical disputes.
Question: We have an owner who hounds the COO almost weekly, demanding immediate responses to his email queries. What is the best practice in this situation?
We have an owner who hounds the COO almost weekly, demanding immediate responses to his email queries. Many are hypothetical or disagreeing with the action that the COO has taken. Rarely does the issue require urgent attention, rather they are designed as nuisance value.
This is very time-consuming and stressful for the volunteer COO. What is the best practice in this situation? Any suggestions for managing this behaviour would be appreciated.
The most meaningful response comes from establishing boundaries and resetting expectations on how communications will be moving forwards.
The COO has my sympathy. Putting up one’s hand for a volunteer strata role is often a thankless task.
To be honest, I think you have mostly answered your own queries. When I read words such as ‘hypothetical’, ‘disagreeing’ and ‘demanding immediate responses’, that tells me that the most fundamental thing which the COO can do is to simply not reply. In other words: if no response is needed, then don’t respond. If there is no legislated timeframe for a response, ignore the ‘immediate’ demands and respond when (and if) necessary and on the COO’s terms.
As for ‘hypothetical’ concerns or ‘disagreeing’, I’m yet to encounter any strata legislation requiring the governing body (be that a body corporate, an owners’ corporation or a COO) to engage in hypothetical debate or to engage in a back-and-forth exchange of words based on one party’s disagreement. If the owner in question is serious in their concerns, they will avail themselves of qualified legal advice to support their position, or they will initiate proceedings as necessary. The fact they have seemingly done neither tells you about their intentions.
Behaviour of this time becomes ingrained over time and in my experience – and believe me, I’ve seen plenty of it – the most meaningful response comes from establishing boundaries and resetting expectations on how communications will be moving forwards. Put another way: show, rather than tell. Don’t communicate back to the owner telling them what will be happening. Instead, simply do it and lead by example. This will take time, patience and resilience. Yet I have seen it work.
You can always investigate formal proceedings (e.g., in Queensland, a by-law enforcement process or nuisance application might be options), but if I know the personality type of this particular owner, I would speculate they would be ecstatic at the prospect of protracted proceedings. It would merely fuel their fire and strongly imprint upon them the idea they are engaged in a battle from which they must emerge as victor. So don’t give them what they want!
This post appears in Strata News #586.
Chris Irons
Strata Solve
E: chris@stratasolve.com.au
P: 0419 805 898
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