Welcome to the blog of NSW strata investigative journalism
| From: | SP52948 owner |
|---|---|
| To: | Robert Crosbie Waratah Strata Management |
| Subject: | Re: [Waratah Strata Management] Re: SP 52948, 1-15 Fontenoy Road, Marsfield |
| Date: | 11/1/17, 7:06 pm |
Hi Robert,
Thanks for the update.
I am an IT security expert and it is my daily job to monitor internet emails for major organisations. I can assure you that your setup is wrong because, for the seventh time, I sent you email with empty body of the message (no attachments, not web links). They bounced back again due to your Virus Scanner setup (that is TrendMicro server on your side).
The original message was received at Wed, 11 Jan 2017 19:01:01 +1100
----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
(reason: 550 5.7.1 enquiry@waratahstrata.com.au: Recipient address rejected: ERS-RBL.)
----- Transcript of session follows -----
... while talking to in.hes.trendmicro.com.:
Recipient address rejected: ERS-RBL.
550 5.1.1 enquiry@waratahstrata.com.au ... User unknown
<<< 554 5.5.1 Error: no valid recipients
Final-Recipient: RFC822 enquiry@waratahstrata.com.au
Action: failed
Status: 5.7.1
Remote-MTA: DNS; in.hes.trendmicro.com
Diagnostic-Code: SMTP; 550 5.7.1
mailto:enquiry@waratahstrata.com.au Recipient address rejected: ERS-RBL.
Last-Attempt-Date: Wed, 11 Jan 2017 19:01:05 +1100
The Motions are submitted and if they are not put in time for the general meeting (for whatever reason), they are automatically moved to next AGM. There are no old issues, there are ONGOING UNRESOLVED ISSUES that owners corporation needs to deal with, so all Motions are valid and cannot be removed from the agenda.
The ONLY way to exclude Motions from general meeting are (as per SSMA 2015, Schedule 1, Section 19:
19 Chairperson may rule certain motions out of order
The chairperson at a meeting 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 of the strata scheme or would otherwise be unlawful or unenforceable, or
(b) any requirement of this Act to include the form of the motion in the notice of the meeting has not been complied with.
Note the following: The person chairing the meeting, when ruling a motion out of order must give reasons for the ruling; and state how the ruling may be reversed by the persons present and entitled to vote. The EC can also advise that Motions are ruled out of order and exclude them from the AGM agenda prior to the meeting.
The persons present at the general meeting, who are entitled to vote, may by ordinary resolution disagree with the Chairperson and/or the Executive Committee and reverse the ruling. The reasons given by the Chairperson and/or Executive Committee must be recorded in the minutes of the meeting (that has not happened in SP52948 for 19 years).
My Motions were given to members of the Committee and BCS already. Email details of the new Secretary are unknown, and that is why your office is included in the correspondence. I can, if you wish to waste more of my time, send Motions and drop them into envelope and put into Secretary's letterbox at the complex. I think it is unnecessary but if somebody insists on formalities, I can do it.
The vacant position on the Committee became available AFTER the AGM. So, there is one "empty" place that needs to be filled. The position can be filled by having a member of the owners corporation fill the vacancy in an ‘acting capacity’. This is generally the easiest solution as it can be done by passing a motion by the executive committee, however since I duly submitted by candidacy before AGM 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016, I think it would be very unwise from the EC to select anyone else without either priority vote, or ballot at general meeting. In reality, the vacancy should be filled by holding vote on the new appointment at a general meeting of the owners corporation (and ballot if there are more candidates than places).
In regards to Mr. Simon Wicks, you have enough references that show his less-than-professional work in the past. We will see what happens next.
If we comply with the laws, that is easiest way to stay safe and at peace.
Regards,
On 11/01/17 17:33, Robert Crosbie wrote:
I suspect our spam filter does not like the links that you have included in your email. We have been receiving other emails without issue, so it must be something to do with your emails.
Please see my responses below (in bold).
Regards,
Robert Crosbie
Waratah Strata Management
P.O. Box 125, Eastwood NSW 2122
-----Original Message-----
From: SP52948 owner
Sent: Monday, 9 January 2017 9:39 PM
To: Enquiry
Subject: [Waratah Strata Management] Re: SP 52948, 1-15 Fontenoy Road, Marsfield
Hi,
I am sending this through website because email services at waratahstrata.com.au are not operational.
Hi Robert,
Thank you for the prompt response.
I am sure you wish to deliver good services and be transparent in your actions. That is all I want and demand for my money. Your business provides services and I pay for them. When there is a problem, we deal with it. Nothing more and nothing else. We must have proper business relationship.
We can talk and meet in the near future. I am very busy with work, unlike most EC members who do not work in daily jobs, but we can find suitable time to meet.
1. I will wait for your account to pay levies as I do not intend to pay to BCS earlier than the law prescribes. I have already notified BCS and EC members about it:
Noted
2. I also submitted my Motions (34 of them were illegally prevented at AGM 2016), so they are resubmitted to EC and your business.
As mentioned, I do not wish to cover old issues, so request that you review your motions and delete any that relate to past issues that are outside of our control. We only wish to deal with current or ongoing matters. Following is the relevant section of the Strata Act that specifies how motions are to be requested.
4 Inclusion of matters on agenda
(1) Any owner, or any person entitled to vote at a general meeting of an owners corporation, may require a motion to be included in the agenda of the next general meeting of the owners corporation.
(2) The requirement is to be made by written notice given to the secretary of the owners corporation that:
(a) sets out the required motion, and
(b) states the name of the person making the requirement, and
(c) includes an explanation of the motion of not more than 300 words in length.
3. One member of the EC sold her unit in November 2016, so the EC place is vacated. For the last four years, BCS and EC members illegally prevented my candidacy from showing at AGM, so I request to be formally added to next AGM/EGM. If there are more candidates than maximum allowable number, there must be a ballot.
All EC (now Strata Committee) positions automatically become vacant at each AGM. Any eligible owner can nominate themselves for election to the SC. The meeting decides on the number of SC members from 1 to 9, and if there are more nominations than positions available a ballot is held. It is up to the owners at the AGM to decide who will be elected. This decision cannot be made by the strata manager or the committee. Having said that, if a majority of owners feel that one owner would be disruptive to the efficient operation of the committee, is only on the committee for personal gain rather than the good of the Owners Corporation, or is concerned for any other reason, the Strata Act does allow a person not to be elected to the SC. I am not suggesting for a minute that that has occurred in your case, just that the Strata Act is specifically designed to allow that to occur.
4. As part of my Motions for AGM or EGM 2017, I requested approval for hardwood flooring in Lot 158. New strata law SSMA 2015 Section 110 requires that \"Minor Renovations\" are approved at general meeting. I am not prepared to wait one year for it so, either the current By-Law is applied and formal approval given to me promptly, or Extraordinary General Meeting organised (in that case, all my Motions would have to be included as well).
This is what we seek approval for:
Hardwood flooring in bedrooms,
Acoustic floor underlays (soundproofing) shall be installed as per standards devised by the Australian Association of Acoustic Consultants.
As long as we guarantee the noise levels, owners corporation cannot decline the request.
Please table it for the EC meeting in near future.
I will need to wait until we receive the strata records so I can review your existing by-laws to advise on the flooring issue. You may have a specific by-law relating to timber flooring or may have the Strata Act model by-laws. I would advise however against installing timber flooring in bedrooms if they are above bedrooms below. My experience is that regardless of how good suppliers say their soundproofing is and what standards it exceeds, it is almost never as good as a good quality carpet & underlay and you inevitably end up with complaints from residents trying to sleep below. You then end up having to install mats, rugs or carpets to prevent the complaints, which defeats installing the floorboards.
5. As soon as your company takes management of SP52948, I will submit request for document search for the last five years of all financials and some other files in accordance with SSMA 2015. Any missing files - we will have to document and find their whereabouts.
Noted.
6. Whilst I will not comment about BCS and previous actions by them and EC members, (evidence speak for itself), the fact that third company was prevented from bidding for strata contract gives a bad taste in ordinary person\'s mouth, so my Motion at next AGM/EGM is fair and factual:
Motion: Confirm owners prevented from reviewing Ryan Strata tender at AGM 2016 The Owners Corporation SP52948 by ORDINARY RESOLUTION, confirms the following:
* BCS Strata Management and EC members prevented owners corporation from reviewing Ryan Strata tender for Strata Managing Agent’s contract by excluding it from agenda at AGM 2016,
* Ryan Strata offered most-favorable and cheapest options.
More details inside the Motions. Out of interest, how did your company learn about the pending contract renewal for SP52948 and who approached you to submit tender?
I am friends with the son-in-law of one of the owners. I was advised they were not happy with BCS and was asked to give his mother-in-law a call. I am not aware of any other strata managers that the SC considered.
6. In regards to Mr. Simon Wicks, I know him very well. He was removed from managing SP52948 in 2011. I know when he resigned from BCS, it was soon after this email to which neither he, nor Pica Group or BCS responded:
I have submitted Motion about him for next AGM/EGM:
Motion: Confirm prior relationship between Waratah Strata Management and BCS Strata Management The Owners Corporation SP52948 by ORDINARY RESOLUTION, confirms the following:
* BCS Strata Management and EC members did not disclose prior relationship between Director at Waratah Strata Management and BCS Strata Management at AGM 2016,
* BCS Strata Management and EC members failed to disclose if they knew, and for how long, was Mr. Simon Wicks an employee of Waratah Strata Management as he had been a staff member of BCS Strata Management previously,
* BCS Strata Management and EC members failed to disclose to owners corporation number of references to Mr. Simon Wicks and his actions in 2015 and 2016 alone,
* Current BCS Strata Management staff alleged in email on 23th of December 2016 that new Strata Managing Agent for SP52948 was Mr. Simon Wicks, who was an employee of BCS Strata Management and removed from managing SP52948 after around six-month period before AGM 2011.
BCS-Strata-Management-Refused-to-investigate-Strata-Manager-Simon-Wicks-Oct2011.pdf
I have information how Mr. Simon Wicks operated in other complexes, including insurance renewals.
Mr. Simon Wicks had five years to reply to my publishings and that has never happened. People sometimes can change, so lets see how much that applies in his case. One thing is certain: trust through verification.
I was interviewed by members of the Executive Committee prior to Waratah Strata Management being nominated as the new strata managers at the AGM. During that interview it was discussed that Simon Wicks was one of our employees and that he had managed your building for a short period some years prior.
My history with BCS was also discussed. I had been a part owner of NSW Strata Management at Parramatta, which was the strata manager for 1150 buildings. That business was sold to the PICA Group (which also owns BCS) in 2010. After the sale I worked as a Business Development Manager for the PICA Group for 18 months. I left PICA after becoming very disillusioned with the way PICA operated and started Waratah Strata in 2012.
BCS is a very large, bureaucratic company that undertrains and overworks its staff. If Simon Wicks had only worked for BCS I would not have employed him. Simon was originally employed and trained by Raine & Horne Strata Epping (which was also sold to PICA). R & H Strata used very similar management systems to those used by NSW Strata, therefore I was very confident that he would be capable of providing the level of service that I expect from my business. That has proven to be the case. Simon is a very diligent and efficient strata manager. He is currently managing a very small portfolio of buildings compared to what he was managing at BCS so has the time and capacity to effectively manage your building. I will also be assisting him as required and attending your strata meetings.
While we provide your SC and Owners Corporation guidance and advice, we generally do not make decisions for you, so management decisions, including relating to insurance renewals, will be made by your committee or at general meetings. We are confident that once we have had a chance to get up to speed on your strata plan you will be very happy with the service that Waratah Strata is able to provide.
Regards,