Hi, Florida condo owner researching NSW's strata system. I'm hoping to speak with a long-time strata owner or current/former strata committee member about what works, what doesn't, capital works funds, strata managers, special levies and government oversight.
The public and various authorities have been calling for Strata commissions to be banned for years. We continue to see Strata Management companies with conflicted relationships plague the industry. This needs to end now.
Hi all
We have starting heading down the long road of updating our by laws to improve enforceability as adviced by our manager. It's going to be a long process so I'm trying to work out what else we should change/add in / modify at the same time so we don't need to go through the process again any time soon. Unfortunately the manager hasnt made any additional suggestions so I would be keen to hear about any lessons learnt in other owners corps. In particular it would be good to know of any situations that resulted in you needing to update your by laws or those 'We wished we had changed that by law' type situations
I won't post the footage as his kid is in it, but i tracked down his vehicle and i left a joke version for him on his car haha
The strata has sought quotes to make some repairs on our balcony and now the OC is considering these, but no decision has been made which trade to go with, and it has been months. Is there any timeline they are bound by or anything I can do to compel momentum? I feel powerless. My follow-ups fall on deaf ears.
Former committee member here. Timeline:
**•** I was on the committee that hired our current strata manager, after the previous one was too slow to respond to issues.
**•** While on the committee, I pushed through a rule requiring multiple vendor quotes for repairs, and asked the manager to keep a register of raised issues.
**•** I later left the committee. The manager still generally takes months to respond to anything.
**•** My own repair request has been pending 8 months. Meanwhile the new committee seems to be getting their own members’ repairs actioned while others, including mine, sit ignored.
**•** Recently I requested records on my specific repair — when it was proposed, when it was discussed, and the outcome. Instead of producing anything, the manager told me to go search the books and records myself.
**•** Separately, I learned the manager told a regulator (NSW Fair trading) that the *previous* committee (mine) was unresponsive and caused a backlog, and the *new* committee is the proactive one, exact opposite of what happened.
I think the strata manager is favouring the new committee because I only renewed her contract for a year and put her on notice, and she’s hoping the new committee extends her long-term. Could be wrong, but the pattern fits.
Has anyone dealt with a strata/property manager stonewalling records requests while favouring a friendly committee? What’s the right way to force proper records production, and is there any point escalating the false regulator statement, or does that just go nowhere?
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! 🙏
There are so many apartments listed for sale have either Airbnb or serviced apartments/hotel in the building. If I live in the building I don't want all these short stay people wandering around & use the facilities. Why can't owners corporation have a bylaw to ban all short stay (they can ban everything else) ?
I live overseas and have been chasing our strata manager for a long time to get everything up to date with our fees and insurance - our insurance wasn’t even paid until recently when it was questioned. One other owner has expressed concern but the rest are fine with this … weird arrangement. Problem is, I literally know nothing about strata, and I don’t know what to do. I haven’t paid strata fees in 3 years. I have no idea how much is in a fund, or what it’s called. There is, as far as I am aware, no maintenance being done on the properties. What steps can I take to make this problem better (the manager, when he does respond, always leads with “as you know my cancer treatment has been keeping me busy”, which I sympathise with but his job isn’t being done full stop).
“We call for the supply of tobacco to be immediately banned in buildings, or adjoining buildings to where people live,” Promnitz said.
“Until the Victorian government brings the crime crisis under control, this presents an unacceptable risk to peoples’ lives.
“Allowing that risk directly beneath people’s bedrooms presents an unacceptable danger to residents’ lives and homes.”
Co-founder of the Strata Owners Alliance Adam Promnitz said it is unfortunate that innocent Australians are paying the price for Victoria’s tobacco wars.
Sounds like this is a QLD issue but our caretaker is also the developer of the complex and has a clause which auto renews the agreement unless THEY (not us) opt out.
In my opinion, that is absolutely idiotic and I can't believe the original BC signed it.
After 15 years of washing our cars in one of the visitor spots that has a storm water drain connection, we have had it pointed out that this is illegal. Only connections to sewerage are permitted for detergent run off. What are other Aus strata buildings doing about car wash facilities.?
My building has dozens of R410A air conditioners that are approaching EOL. When they die they have to be replaced with R32 units. An important issue is whether the new units need new piping or not.
Most manufacturers specify:
R410A pipe minimum thickness: ~0.61 mm
R32 pipe minimum thickness: ~0.71 mm
The reason? R32 has slightly higher pressure and is flammabile (A2L class) so it requires a higher-rated copper pipe.
Advice I have found says no, you cannot directly replace R410A with R32 in an existing system; R32 is not a "drop-in" replacement, and doing so is unsafe, inefficient, and likely violates regulations and warranties because R32 is mildly flammable (A2L) and systems must be specifically designed and rated for it. While R32 is a component of R410A, using it alone in an R410A unit can damage components, increase wear, void warranties, and poses fire risks, requiring complete system replacement with R32-rated equipment for safe transition.
A lot of people say you can reuse the existing R410A piping and all will be fine for a while, and you'll save a lot of money and hassle which is priority #1 for many. However what they don't say is apparently that the pipes will then be prone to leak more quickly, and R32 coolant is mildly flammable. You also risk acid buildup, clogging, or compressor failure. Much of this is understandably of concern to residents in a large, tall multi story residential building.
ChatGPT says that if you decide to reuse the old piping, you should go through an extensive multi stage process the clean the old piping first.
https://chatgpt.com/s/t_69141e0bfe088191b594b5e89c6e53e0
In practice installers with the cheapest quotes get accepted, resuse the old piping and do none of that, leaving theproblems for someone else to deal with in future. Pipe coverings on the cheap new units are also not UV resistant so quickly disintgrate on the roof, where many of the units are.
My building needs a process that ensures safe long term outcomes, but whatever they are that process seems like it's going to involve an after installation inspection and cost $$$, which will greatly infuriate many.
It also seems like we should be arranging a close inspection and review of existing R32 units that have already been installed to ensure their long term safety. I suspect that in those cases the EC may have previously signed off on a high level plan for their installation. For the EC to potentially come back now and say an owner has to do something expensive like reinstall the piping for example, is going to go down like a lead balloon and I'm unsure if the existing building rules would permit such a thing. The standard speil you inevitably get is why are you making such a big deal about this? Everything's fine, just let it go and she'll be right and that is difficult to counter when you're not expert in this stuff at all.
Has anybody out there already dealt with and/or addressed issues like these?
Due to a high degree of conflict, one or two very challenging owners, a growing amount of arrears and some other issues, several owners submitted Applications for Relief for an Administrator to be appointed over our Body Corporate.
The Recorder of Titles appointed an interim Administrator for three months and later confirmed a different Administrator for up to three years.
Presumably because of all the legal threats we were receiving from one owner, or it might be possible that this is standard operating procedure now in Tasmania, the Recorder of Titles has appointed a lawyer as the Administrator.
We are now nine months into the (up to) three year administration but the Administrator has provided no progress update or financial statement to date except for appointing a Strata manager to collect the levies and pay the bills.
I realise under administration that the scheme is being administered "to the exclusion of the powers and functions of the body corporate" but surely some transparency is required?
Apart from polite emails, what else can we do to obtain a status update and a current financial statement or is this an unrealistic expectation given we are under administration?