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| From: | SP52948 owner |
|---|---|
| To: | Peter Bone BCS Strata Management |
| Subject: | REQUEST: AGM 2012 Minutes and Townhouse rebates information |
| Date: | 14/11/12, 8:58 am |
Hello Peter,
The Minutes of the AGM 2012 have not been distributed yet. Number of things went wrong with the meeting so the owners need to be notified about them in proper manner.
The CTTT and I are waiting for the Minutes so that they can be part of the pending cases.
Now that I am back from the overseas business trips and upon further investigations, a lot of work is underway to improve the affairs in our complex.
As I said to your Branch Manager Paul Banoop on Monday, the issue of these rebates will now reach the levels well beyond anybody could have predicted before.
One of the issues that must be documented in the AGM Minutes, based on my thorough investigation and evidence, without any possibility of denial is that the Executive Committee, along with previous Strata Managers, mislead the owners corporation over 14 years and obtained benefits for SELECTIVE townhouse owners without a by-law or a special resolution.
The OC will have to engage proper legal advice in the process of compensation of missing money from the Admin Fund over many years The real figures will be known when I obtain access to missing files that I asked for on Monday this week but did not receive.
Here is the short summary of those rebates and how they unfolded. It is amazing that such process would go for almost 14 years without anybody detecting it until I uncovered it in November 2011.
1. The EC made a decision (without owners approval at a general meeting) at their own meeting on 17th of March 1998 to:
BEGIN QUOTE
Refund townhouse owners the cost of water supply effective from 01.09.1997.
END QUOTE
It was simple one line statement. Nothing else for owners.
Five problems with this decision:
* The EC introduced water rebates for townhouse owners without decision at the general meeting;
* The EC applied these rebates retrospectively;
* The EC did not qualify the "cost of water supply" as it might have included the service fees nor how to implement the reimbursements;
* The EC did not qualify how it would show these expenses in the financial statements for all owners in the future;
* The process of notifying new owners about them in the future. I have evidence that shows these rebates were not disclosed to new townhouse owners as some of them found out "by word of mouth" from the neighbors...
The meeting was attended by six members of the Executive Committee (of which one is the owner who later obtained exclusive rights to common property through illegal voting process), and 14 owners (some attended with their partners).
Nobody in the complex paid attention to this strange decision.
2. No other information about these rebates was tabled or documented until the EC meeting on 21st of July 1999, when all of a sudden they were extended to gas:
BEGIN QUOTE
The current policy of providing a refund to townhouse owners of water/gas usage is to be considered formally as an agenda item at the forthcoming General Meeting.
END QUOTE
The EC meeting was attended by five members and Strata Manager John Fry. One member of the EC is still on the committee in 2012.
Gas usage was brought in by stealth: it did not exist earlier and the EC "introduced" it all of a sudden.
Again, nobody in the complex paid attention to this decision or questioned it.
3. The AGM 1999, which EC member used as justification for the water/gas rebates over many years:
BEGIN QUOTE
Motion 12: To decide whether the Owners Corporation continue to reimburse the owners of townhouses in connection with water and gas usage costs payable by such owner.
Resolved that the current provision of reimbursement be ratified and continued.
END QUOTE
Four problems:
* This was not a special resolution or a by-law;
* The "ratification" did not qualify how to implement the reimbursements;
* The "ratification" did not set how it would show these expenses in the financial statements for all owners in the future;
* The "ratification" did not qualify the process of notifying new owners about rebates in the future. I have evidence that shows these rebates were not disclosed to all new townhouse owners as some of them found out "by word of mouth" from the neighbors... Same applies to other owners in the complex who bought properties since 1999.
It was simply a statement which had no legal value.
4. An Extraordinary General Meeting was scheduled on 21 May 2000 at 10:00am. Not a single owner attended. There were 33 proxy votes given to single EC member.
There were two items on the agenda:
* That the minutes of the last AGM (1999) be approved.
* That the levies be increased with effect from 1st of July 2000.
Due to lack of quorum the meeting was closed without any decisions.
5. Another Extraordinary General Meeting was scheduled three months later: on 23 August 2000 at 10:00am.
A very important highlight: it was not an ADJOURNED EGM, but a brand new one!
Not a single owner attended. There were 51 proxy votes given to single EC member.
51 proxy votes did not satisfy the quorum but the Strata Manager still allowed it to proceed and "approved" all three motions (including confirmation of the minutes of the AGM 1999).
Nobody in the complex questioned the quorum or the decisions.
6. At AGM 2012, I asked a very clear question about the legality of the rebates and also the amount of money being paid to townhouse owners during this year. No answer was provided and the strata manager, along with other members of the EC, "could not remember" the figure.
7. Through document viewing this week (November 2012), I found out that close to $11,000.00 was given in rebates to townhouse owners without special resolution or a by-law.
I also now have evidence that, as I stated, a number of townhouse owners never knew of their rights to claim such rebates.
I also have evidence that the EC, without any legal rights, could not have rejected the claim of owner to get reimbursed for the previous year, as shown in the minutes of the EC meeting on 22nd of August 2012.
I have indisputable evidence that rebates to some other townhouse owners were given retrospectively in the past.
8. As far as the special resolution that "approved" these rebates at AGM 2012 is concerned, I am taking actions to invalidate it based on grounds of "inequitable calculations", discrimination against townhouse owners (current and past) who were not even aware of their "rights" to claim these rebates over 14 years, adversely affecting many owners' rights when a proper discussion or information was not given to owners before the AGM, and other issues.
9. It is reasonable and proper step to take now (the EC must make a decision on it now (not later, but now):
Contact all previous and current owners in the complex, notify them about these shortcomings over the last 14 years and obtain their statements what they wish to do as far as the compensation is concerned.
The EC and the previous Strata Managers, bear full responsibility for these problems. They knowingly, and without any regard of the law, allowed it to happen for 14 years.
It is a duty of every person who lives in Australia to uphold the laws of the land and help prosecute those who act against them.
Regards,