NSW Fair Trading cases 11138875 and 11204124 - Waratah Strata Management failed to provide copy of audit reports
Lot 158 finally starting to achieve results: NSW Fair Trading letter on 17 October 2023, confirming that Waratah Strata Management failed to comply with regulations for Auditor's reports (and this is just the beginning of troubles for this strata agency):
Nine committee members were asked to inform all owners about NSW Fair Trading update on 18 October 2023 and they did not respond:
On 19 October 2023, Director of Uniqueco Property Services was given one-page document to put on or near six notice boards. Mr. Steve Carbone pretended that he had to ask Mr. Robert Crosbie (Director of Waratah Strata Management) for permission to publish it, and then never completed the task to comply with Lot 158 request:
As of early September 2024, many common-property problems still existed in Lot 158 alone. They were completely ignored by Waratah Strata Management and Uniqueco Property Services. One of the attempts to engage with them was an email sent on 27 October 2023, a day after AGM 2023 where Lot 158 prevented illegal renewal of three-year contract with Uniqueco Property Services:
SP52948-unresolved-common-property-maintenance-issues-in-Lot-158
Because Waratah Strata Management (Mr. Robert Crosbie and Mr. Heath Crosbie) and committee members (Mr. Stan Pogorelsky, Mr. John Gore, Ms. Genelle Godbee, Mr. Ramesh Desai, Ms. Kathryn Cutler, Mr. Carlos Fornieles Montoya, Mr. Andrew Ip, and Mr. Jeffery Wang, whilst Mrs. Marianna Paltikian was notified through strata manager) did not answer any questions about dubious expenses at AGM 2023, Uniqueco Property Services was also asked to provide their responses:
SP52948-AGM-2023-dubious-invoices-24Oct2023
SP52948-Motions-by-Lot-158-EGM-public-30Oct2023
On 17 September 2024, Waratah Strata Management manipulated Open Work Orders and removed 12 issues, including still outstanding Lot 158 sunroom leaks. Screenshots of first page on Waratah Strata website for SP52948 Open Work Orders at 16:14 hours an d 16:24 on 17 September 2024 were significantly different:
SP52948-Waratah-Strata-Management-forgery-of-Open-Work-Orders-17Sep2024
In one of many examples of Lot 158 efforts, on 5 October 2015 Lot 158 tried to reason with BCS Strata Management (they lost contract with SP52948 at AGM in 2016) to avoid massive and persistent mismanagement of common funds and pending large expenses due to neglect of complex. Lot 158 was ridiculed and completely ignored.
Lot 158 tried to reason with Waratah Strata Management and committee members to avoid bankruptcy and unnecessary legal costs and insurance risks on 2 June 2019. Lot 158 was ridiculed and completely ignored.
Lot 158 tried to reason with Waratah Strata Management and committee members to prevent unnecessary legal costs and assist NSW Fair Trading and Police on 18 June 2019. Lot 158 was ridiculed and completely ignored.
Lot 158 predicted risks of running out of money in email and warning to Waratah Strata Management, Uniqueco Property Services, and committee members on 29 June 2019. Lot 158 was ridiculed and completely ignored.
Seven more warnings were sent to Waratah Strata Management and committee members in 2023 - no reply was ever received:
In agenda for Annual General Meeting 2023, Waratah Strata Management continued to mislead owners, confirming problems with strata funds without disclosing any balance sheets from funds, ongoing problems with fire safety, and providing completely false and fabricated figure of 18% inflation rate over three last years:
Even layman can easily confirm that figure for official inflation rates of 18% for three years prior to 2023 were grossly inflated, false, and deliberately designed to coerce owners:
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... whilst sending this agenda to owners (full of errors and misleading statements)
SP52948-Waratah-Strata-Management-organised-non-compliant-ordinary-committee-meetings-since-1Feb2017, with special emphasis on AGM 2023 in October:
Because Waratah Strata Management continued to act in non-compliance with laws, NSW Fair Trading recommended to open another investigation, which Lot 158 did in mid-January 2024.
SP52948-Waratah-Strata-Management-notified-about-NSW-Fair-Trading-case-11204124-25Jan2024:
In period from October 2017 to November 2023, Waratah Strata Management failed to comply with Clause 21 of the Strata Schemes Management Regulations 2016 seven times, which requires that the accounts and financial statements of the owners corporation with budget above $250,000.00 must be audited before presentation at Annual General Meeting (AGM) in accordance with Section 95 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015. In spite of NSW Fair Trading ruling in case 11138875 on 17 October 2023 (which Waratah Strata Management hid from owners), Waratah Strata Management deliberately continued to ignore Clause 21 of the Strata Schemes Management Regulations 2016 at two general meetings in late 2023, where audited accounts were not provided to any owner before, at, and after the meetings when minutes where published: Annual General Meeting on 26 October 2023 and Extraordinary General Meeting on 30 November 2023. As Economos Auditor failed to co-operate with Chartered Accountants Australian & New Zealand in case PC - 003660, he was notified about being listed as accessory for non-compliance of SP52948 audits in January 2024.
False statement about last Annual General Meeting (AGM) at Strata Hub nsw.gov.au with risks of penalties for outdated and wrong information – Waratah Strata Management ignored concerns about non-compliance with Strata Schemes Management Amendment (Information) Regulation 2021 seven times since June 2023. Since June 2023 Waratah Strata Management has not taken any corrective action whilst charging SP52948 in amount of $678.18 for their work in FY 2023.
This trend continued as of 30 January 2024:
SP52948-NSW-strata-registration-15May2023-screenshot-taken-on-30Jan2024
On 31 January 2024, in panic, Waratah Strata Management "managed" to correct false data at Strata Hub:
SP52948-NSW-strata-registration-31Jan2024-screenshot-taken-on-2Feb2024
Waratah Strata Management failed to comply with SSMA 2015, Sch1, Part 10(1) at AGM 2023 and EGM 2023, where Lot 158 requested that owners corporation provides copies of administrative fund, the capital works fund and any other fund of the owners corporation (term deposits and trust accounts, and others as applicable), which have to be produced to the owner at least two days before the meeting at which the statements are to be presented. Of special interest is evidence of how Waratah Strata Management paid invoices from Admin Fund which had negative balance almost 100% of the time during FY 2023 and so far in FY 2024. If the money was borrowed from Capital Works Fund, Waratah Strata Management must have complied with SSMA 2015 Section 76. Waratah Strata Management hides from owners that Admin Fund balance is so bad that monthly salaries for building manager Uniqueco Property Services have been significantly delayed since November 2023, so much so that one monthly salary is still missing in balance sheet as of 22 January 2024.
At committee meeting on 22 February 2024, it was confirmed that Waratah Strata Management had "accidentally" falsified financials since November 2023 because they "missed" to report one monthly salary for Uniqueco Property Services and did not report gas usage payments too:
Waratah Strata Management failed to comply with SSMA 2015 Section 182 for SP52948 document search three times: on 28 December 2023, 8 January 2024, and 15 January 2024.
This trend continued at finally "allowed" document search on 13 February 2024:
SP52948-Lot-158-outcome-of-access-to-strata-documents-public-13Feb2024
