u/dude707LoL

Hi all, I have issues with a dysfunctional 'self managed' strata scheme of 3 houses and a shared driveway. The unit entitlements are unequal being 43/37/20. I'm one of three owners on the scheme. We currently can't get insurance or anything done properly because one owner is very difficult and doesn't want to pay their share based on unit entitlements. The other owner just doesn't want to spend money or do anything.

I'm trying to get mediation and ncat to appoint a strata manager to sort all of this out. My house hasn't been insured since May and the other two houses haven't been for over a year. One of the houses pulled out of the original strata insurance and likely uninsured for years. We only learnt this year. The scheme also has no levies or funds for the common properties. We were talking about paying the insurer separately as we can't agree on how to pay. Now one of the owner is saying they think my house should pay more because of the heritage status instead of as per unit entitlements. Previously the owner with 43% have tried to underpay their entitlement by asking everyone to pay at 33% for the valuation.

I don't think they ever complied with any strata obligations and governance for the past 10 years. My house is also not on the strata role. It's just a mess and can't get anything done with the other two. They just vote against everything.

Need recommendations for lawyers who are good and switched on and help get this resolved. Appreciate any help. Thanks! 🙏

Hi all, I'm quite new to this whole strata thing and am in a bit of a pickle. Please be kind because I'm already stressed and actively trying to solve the problem/get help.

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We bought a house on a strata title with 2 other houses sharing a driveway last year. When we bought the house, the building insurance only had my house (1) and one other house (3) on it because the seller said house 2 has its own separate insurance. Due to our inexperience, we went with it. Fast forward one year, NRMA also sold us the wrong insurance for a standalone house on strata title for one year. This year we find out we can't get insurance and finally learn that as a strata title all buildings need to be insured collectively.

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Then we start to learn more about strata responsibilities and all that stuff and realize the other 2 houses have not been insured correctly or at all for at least a year knowingly. The old seller confirmed they have not been insuring house 3 for a year and house 2 has not been insured together for years now.

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They have also not been doing any of the strata reporting. We were never added to the strata role. There's no strata funds etc. House 2 was meant to be the strata manager but did nothing and ignored everyone for years.

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We called an EGM to discuss these issues and suggested getting a strata manager to sort these things out. In the meeting(zoom with transcripts), house 2 got an old woman as a proxy to try and bully/gaslight us saying we don't need governance in place and if anything just go to mediation in the future. Both houses voted against our suggestions to get a manager, valuator, an insurance broker to get the strata insurance etc.

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They did agree we need insurance but decided they will go get another quote for the valuation. What came back we agreed that house 2 will get the property valuation for $300. At this point, we agreed and to my understanding as per the strata scheme management act, all payments should be divided based on the unit entitlement: 37% 43% 20%

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We already discussed this in the EGM and had a follow up email to confirm this. The owner of house 2 came back asking everyone to pay $100 flat fee and surprisingly house 3 agreed to it and paid... I already warned house 3 that this amount is incorrect according to the unit entitlement and it's very obvious, yet they paid it.

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There's also another situation where the water meter from their houses is not hooked up correctly to the grid and they seem to be knowingly not paid water usage for the past 9 years... We find out when we were asking Sydney waters to confirm our meter only records the usage of our house. Sydney waters then came and put in a meter to start charging them.

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What I'm seeing here is a pattern of behaviour from these 2 houses that want to be willfully ignorant and not do things by the book. They also seem to be against us since we're the new people and causing them "troubles" even though they are the ones in the wrong all along. There also seems to a weird pact leader situation going on where house 2 behaves like a bully in every situation and house 3 seems to just follow them? This is apparent when house 3 voted against our valuation quote of $330 because they want cheaper. But then went and paid $100 for the valuation share in the end even though they are only meant to pay $60 for their share of 20%.

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These people's behaviours make no logical sense to me. I find this strata situation to be dysfunctional and unsure how to navigate to have things sorted out correctly and by the book in the future. Dealing with them is also exhausting like I'm back in school with a bunch of stupid people acting irrationally. To me the best way is to get a strata manager or go to mediation/ tribunal to have them appoint a manager.

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I'm seeking advice on whether mediation/tribunal will be helpful in this situation. And given the information on how these people act with complete incompetence/ bad faith in the past and now, is this something that can help the tribunal rule in my favour? What other evidence should I be gathering?

Question: for the property valuation before we can get strata insurance, per my understanding, it should be split based on unit entitlement and not split evenly? As does all costs related to the strata should be split according to unit entitlement. We sent an email asking them and they just came back saying valuation is to be split evenly.

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