Article: court of appeal finds strata schemes may retrospectively approve legal action
December 2014 saw two decisions of the NSW Court of Appeal confirm the effect of section 80D of the Strata Schemes Management Act. This is the section that requires legal action to be approved by the general meeting if the reasonably estimated costs of taking that action exceed the amounts stipulated in the Regulation (currently $1000…
Article: recovering unpaid strata levies and why strata managers should not be recording ‘expenses’ on owner ledgers
Due to popular demand, I have prepared this paper setting out my advice on the best practice to be applied when recovering unpaid strata levies, including my thoughts on the practice of recording ‘expenses’ on owner ledgers.
Article: is your strata scheme dysfunctional?
You may have heard of the television sitcom Arrested Development. It’s about a man called Michael Bluth who tries to do the right thing and strives to keep his family together, despite his highly manipulative and materialistic parents, attention seeking twin sister, socially inept little brother and highly unreliable older brother. And how could we forget Tobias Fünke, his brother-in-law who is a self-diagnosed ‘never-nude’ (which is ‘exactly what it sounds like’).
Article: asbestos in strata, a reminder of your obligations
Since 1 January 2012, all strata buildings containing a common property workplace built before 1 January 2004 must comply with certain legislative requirements relating to asbestos. In summary, these requirements relate to
(a) the identification of asbestos
(b) the creation of an asbestos register and
(c) the creation of an asbestos management plan.
Article: strata levy recovery and the requirement for expenses to be reasonable, but not proportionate
The NSW Supreme Court has reminded us of the requirement for section 80 levy recovery expenses to be ‘reasonably incurred’ and ‘reasonable in amount’. If there is any doubt, costs will be referred for assessment.
IIB Australia Pty Ltd v Owners Strata Plan 76024 (No 2) [2015] NSWSC 929 (16 July 2015) was an appeal from a decision of the Local Court. In the Local Court proceedings, the Owners Corporation claimed against a lot owner:-
Article: short term letting in strata
Last November, I was invited by strata management company Dynamic Property Services to sit on a panel, together with other strata ‘experts’, and answer a range of questions asked by strata owners.
One of those questions was: what to do about short term letting in strata?