| From: |
SP52948 owner |
| To: |
Peter Bone BCS Strata Management |
| CC: |
Bruce Copland, Moses Levitt, Stan Pogoreslky, Maureen McDonald, Jeffery Wang |
| Subject: |
SUMMARY: OFFICIAL REQUEST FOR RESPONSE for EGM 2013 and CTTT: SP52948 Water and Gas Reimbursements in FY 2013 - 10 Jun2013 |
| Date: |
10/6/13, 4:45 pm |
Hello,
The following documents are submitted for the owners corporation
and the CTTT for several reasons:
a) 16 owners approached me with questions if I had attempted to
deal with the EC and the Strata Manager in regards to water and gas
reimbursements for townhouse owners in a reasonable manner.
The attachments enclosed herewith easily prove that I had been very
patient in seeking answers. Not a single response with any worthy
details from the Strata Manager or the EC has been received so
far.
The more the EC avoid the scrutiny and answers, the more I continue
with the cross-examination.
I have made every possible effort to deal with this (and many other
issues) without the CTTT and DFT. With the current Strata Manager
and the EC, that is not possible, so the CTTT case is going
ahead.
b) There are rumors reaching me that some members of the EC
claim the following:
* There is no requirement of the committee, or the Strata Manager,
or the Secretary
to enter into correspondence with every owner.
Lot 158 response: That is absolutely false because the Department
of Fair Trading is clear about it:
If the powers of Secretary have been
delegated to the managing agent and the lack of
response continues, then the agent has
failed to perform their duties as Secretary in
not answering a communication. Refer to
Strata Schemes Management Act 1996,
Clause 22:
22 What are the functions of the secretary
of an owners corporation?
The functions of a secretary of an owners
corporation include the following:
(a) to prepare and distribute
minutes of meetings of the owners corporation and
submit a motion for confirmation of the
minutes of any meeting of the owners
corporation at the next such
meeting,
(b) to give on behalf of the owners
corporation and of the executive committee
the notices required to be given under
this Act,
(c) to maintain the strata
roll,
(d) to enable the inspection of documents
on behalf of the owners corporation in
accordance with section
108,
(e) to answer communications addressed to
the owners corporation,
(f) to convene meetings of the executive
committee and (apart from its first annual
general meeting) of the owners
corporation,
(g) to attend to matters of an
administrative or secretarial nature in connection
with
the exercise, by the owners corporation or
the executive committee, of its
functions.
In addition, our Strata Manager acts in breach of the terms of the
Management Agreement Number 2671 on 26 May 1999, Schedule of
Services Part 3. Communication, Correspondence and Records.
* There is also a "fear" factor presented to some owners that my
actions would generate huge issues for the Owners Corporation if
any of my current CTTT requests are met.
Lot 158 response: If the motions that I presented to the CTTT (and
offered to deal with at the general meeting) are dealt with, we
would have proper management of the complex, long-term planning,
proactive maintenance, equitable rights for all owners, and full
transparency of the actions by the EC and the Strata Manager.
c) How secretive the water and gas reimbursements were, shows the
document from Lot 217 who complained not knowing about it for seven
years until the neighbor told him about it! Sadly, I am
pushed to publish it because we are now dealing with serious
financial fraud.
d) The latest water and gas reimbursements are provided in the PDF
format with watermark.
Another owner just claimed more than $850 for water and gas
reimbursements. Not only this is a significant expense from our
common funds for private use but as well this owner claimed it for
period of two years and three months, which is against the Special
By-Law as voted at the AGM 2012 that "allowed" only last quarter
from the previous financial year to be claimed.
These old invoices claimed very late happened number of times
(including this financial year several times). Refer to
attachments.
e) At my own cost I did the search of registered By-Laws at the NSW
Land and Property Information site (enclosed herewith). The Special
By-Laws at AGM 2012 are not registered yet (not that they would be
legal anyway). So, seven months after the AGM, they are not listed
as per legal requirements.
To explain how differently the EC and the STrata Manager work when
they want to push (or rush) for something shows the following fact
about the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) in 2012 when they
wanted to grant exclusive rights to common property to owners of
Lot 137 and 137:
* EGM agenda sent on 24 April 2012
* The EGM held in business hours on 7 May 2012 (failed due to lack
of quorum)
* The adjourned EGM held in business hours on 14 May 2012
* The Special By-Law registration submitted on 16 May 2012
* The Special By-Law registered on 24 May 2012
f) I even attempted to involve the Branch Manager Mr. Paul Banoob
and Raine & Horne business owner (or director?) Mr. Greg
Freeman on 11 May 2013. Nobody replied. One needs to ask questions
what kind of managers would not investigate allegations of
misconduct straight away.
Whilst I (and many other owners) would support the equitable manner
in which the water and gas reimbursements might be distributed to
ALL townhouse owners, the current scheme that was hidden from
owners for 13 years is UNLAWFUL AND UNENFORCEABLE. The EC, upon
recommendation by the Solicitor Mr. Adrian Mueller (full proof
about his involvement in setting the agenda for the AGM 2012
exists), acted against the Strata Scheme Management Act 1996,
Schedule 2, Clause 14 (a) by approving the motion to be included in
the agenda for the AGM 2012 and preventing ANY details of the
reimbursements to be provided to owners prior to voting:
14 Motions out of order
The chairperson at a general meeting of an owners corporation
may rule a
motion out of order if:
(a) the chairperson considers that the motion, if carried, would
conflict with
this Act or the by-laws or would otherwise be unlawful or
unenforceable
Houston, we have a serious problem.
On Sun, 2013-05-12 at 00:01 +1000, SP52948 owner wrote to the
Strata Manager and all EC members:
Before I publish it for all owners and give
to the CTTT, I am officially asking you to respond as per:
NSW Strata Schemes Management Act
1996
Division 2 – Members and office
holders of the executive committee
22 What are the functions of the
secretary of an owners corporation?
(a) to prepare and distribute minutes
of meetings of the owners
corporation
and submit a motion for confirmation
of the minutes of any meeting of
the
owners corporation at the next such
meeting,
(c) to enable the inspection of
documents on behalf of the owners
corporation in accordance with section
108,
> (d) to answer communications addressed
to the owners corporation
...
I do not have much patience or time to wait for your response.
It should come immediately since it will have to be given to
all
owners for EGM 2013 and the CTTT.
I have just calculated water and gas reimbursements for
FY 2003, 2004, and eight-month period in 2013. Your office still
owns me
the data for other missing years, but that will certainly come in
time.
a) Please give me the name of the person(s) who approved these
rebates in FY 2013 when some owners claimed water and gas
reimbursements for periods as far behind as 2011 or charged
excessive "fees"?
At the present time, 16 owners in townhouses charged
for water and gas reimbursements around 12% of what
the whole complex (218 owners) spent together
on common property and buildings in the first six months of
FY 2013.
The figure for gas usage for the whole complex is only
six-month
calculation, whilst the water is for eight-month calculation.
16 owners who claim water and gas reimbursements represent only
7.34% of the total number of owners.
Just one single townhouse owner claimed $1,166.69 for private
water
expenses in the first half of FY 2013, and if we add their gas
usage
of $251.72, this owner claimed already $1,418.41 alone!
b) Based on the "approved" Special-By Law, where are the
equitable rights of all owners (especially all lot owners in
the buildings) to share the costs?
The summary of water and gas invoices in FY 2013 show extreme
abuse of common funds by some townhouse owners and no member of the
EC
and the Strata Manager took any actions to correct it.
I do support equitable rights for all owners, but certainly not
abuse of these kinds. Once we remove the Special By-Laws for
these
reimbursements, if owners really want to share the costs,
we will have to come with some better calculations how to implement
them.
The one that the EC "implemented" for the last 14 years is
criminal.
Not only all 192 owners in the buildings are abused, but even
those
townhouse owners who use water and gas lightly and those
who do not claim it at all.